Crematory – Netherworlds Of The Mind (Demo)
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
How are you doing today, folks? I’m back, and it’s time to break out your old denim or leather jacket, make sure your mullet is unkempt, and you have a plane ticket to Haninge, Sweden, because that’s where I’ll be taking you today. These days you will see a lot of old-school death metal revival bands, and while they are certainly doing what they can to try and off-set the amount of garbage that is polluting my beloved sub-genre, it isn’t and won’t ever be enough, so what is it that we must do? We must continue to look back and pay homage to the classic bands that have helped spawn what true death metal bands should strive to be, and right now I’m talking about the legendary Crematory. The band existed from ’89 to ’93, and while I have no clue as to why they broke up, they certainly left their mark in the Swedish death metal scene, and are still remembered quite fondly by guys like me. For those of you who are still young and have for the first time ventured into the world of death metal, pay close attention, and realize why all of your favorite young bands today cannot hold a candle to the first players in the game.
Now, while they have released quite a few demos and one EP, I’ll be taking you through my favorite demo of theirs, “Netherworlds Of The Mind“, and it was released in the wonderous year of 1992. After the band broke up in 1993, Mats Nordrup (drums) and Urban Skytt (guitars) formed goregrind Gods Regurgitate, so, there was certainly an upside to the band breaking up. Also, keep in mind, this is not the crappy Crematory that hails from Germany and does a god-awful goth/death metal mash-up; it’s the only true Crematory from Sweden!
“Netherworlds Of The Mind” only has four songs on the cassette, so while there isn’t very much to say about it, the music clearly speaks for itself. They couldn’t have chosen a better track opener with “Enshrouded (In The River Of Eternity)” that kicks in immediately with a speedy riff with cymbals backing it, and the rest of the band joining in, immediately immersing you in the raw and nasty production that was given to this fantastic song. It is easily one of the most memorable Swedish death metal songs from back in the day and could not have set the atmosphere better, making sure to give the listener a real miserable and evil aural experience, and with it being about four and a half minutes long, there’s nothing a death metal fan can complain about.
Now, the title-track, “Netherworlds Of The Mind“, has one of my favorite opening hooks in a death metal song ever. It is a slow and plodding attack, that once again calls upon true human suffering to really get you into it. The vocals fit the music perfectly and follow the riffs almost to a T. Normally, that would bother the hell out of me, but the band really makes it work for them, and not one second is wasted in this song. They even go ahead and inject a bit of the famous Swedish melody into their work, and it makes things even eerier than before. I love this song so much, and is my favorite off of the whole demo.
The third song is “Souls Astray“, and almost sounds like it’s going into crossover territory, but you can tell that it is going to firmly plant its feet in the death metal soil and rip your face off. While it is still death metal and adds a bit of Interment-like melody, it still feels like one of the tamer tracks off of the demo, but is still very good. One thing that I really appreciate about Crematory is their ability to seemlessly mesh style of blistering thrash-like riffs with straight-ahead-take-no-prisoners death metal song-structures. There is absolutely nothing in this song that is any different from the previous tracks except maybe a couple spots where the tempo drastically changes, but overall, you can really still hear the true Crematory sound, with Urban Skytt wailing on his guitar and Rikard Jansson giving off his fantastic deep growls; now that’s how you do it! Even at the very end of the song is a small acoustic interlude that just gets the listener ready for the final eruption of Swedish brutality. Are you ready to take the last turn with me?
Finally, we have the ending track, “Dwellers In Twilight“. At first listen, it’s a bit disappointing because my copy seems to have quite a bit of popping and sounds fading in and out in the left earpiece, so I have no idea if my cassette is screwed up or if something with the recording process caused it, but after quite a few years of listening, I’ve learned to tune that little annoyance out. Much like “Souls Astray“, the track on its own is slightly slower than the first two, but again, it has absolutely no effect on the pacing and fantastic musicianship on this album. However, just to play Devil’s Advocate here, I would say that out of all four songs, this one would be the weakest in my mind. Now, while it has its weak point of being somewhat forgettable, it is still a very good track once you listen to it and let it rattle around in your brain for a while.
Much like how Shane Embury (Napalm Death, Lock Up, Brujeria, Venemous Concept) worshiped the old Terrorizer demos, I do the exact same thing with the old Crematory material. While on the outside I would wish the band would get back together, I know deep down in my heart of hearts that they wouldn’t be able to release the quality material we have expected of them in their four years of existence, and I am perfectly fine with that. Out of all of their demos and one EP, “Netherworlds Of The Mind” is easily my favorite, because it is the epitome of the Swedish death metal sound that was still in its infancy back in the ’80s and early ’90s, and thankfully bands like Interment, Grave, Dismember, and quite a few others have grabbed the torch from the rotting hands of Crematory and ran with it all over the world, grabbing our hearts and crushing them in their musically-talented hands.
One thing that a lot of modern death metal fans tend to forget about are the forefathers that really gave this sub-genre a name for itself and something to be proud of. Crematory was obviously a part of this small select group of individuals that were able to take a fledgling concept and mold it into a beast that nobody could have comprehended, and to them I tip my hat for helping give birth to the most extreme and talented form of music on Planet Earth. Thank you for all you have done for us, Crematory, and your demo of “Netherworlds Of The Mind” will still be in heavy rotation until it can be pryed out of my cold dead hands.



