AN NCS INTERVIEW: MACERATION

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jan 172025
 


Photos by Anna Vibeke Johansson – Nation North

(Following their It Never Ends… comeback album in 2022, which arrived 30 years after their debut, the Danish death metal band Maceration will soon return with a new one named Serpent Devourment that’s set for release by Emanzipation Productions on January 31st. What we have for you today is a very good interview by our contributor Zoltar of Maceration‘s Jakob Schultz.)

So yeah, fuckin’ sue me: I never really liked Maceration‘s 1992 debut A Serenade in Agony. Ok, let me correct this: I liked it but I never loved it you know? It felt exactly like what it was supposed to be, that is, an almost too-ambitious-for-its-own-good attempt by some locally popular thrashers (in that case, Invocator), after having sniffed in the air that the tide had turned to catch up with the times and thus what was THE thing back then, aka death metal.

But the production somehow didn’t fit and the songs were too long, the biggest draw for me being the presence of then nineteen-years-old Dan Swanö from Edge of Sanity and the fact that his trip to Denmark to meet up and record his vocal parts allowed him to quickly snap a picture of an eerie layer of clouds from the plane’s window which ended up as the cover artwork for Pan.Thy.Monium’s debut album Dawn Of Dreams (yes, I’m that kind of nerd, sorry not sorry).

So even with the surprising return, yet still as a session member only, of Swanö three decades later on their comeback album It Never Ends… I didn’t have high expectations to be fair. That is until I saw Ola Larsson‘s sublime Cthulhuesque artwork and listened to its opening track, “Lost In Depravity”. Full of, wait, freakin’ drenched in, HM-2 delight and far more in-your-face and damn brutal than its clumsy predecessor, it simply ripped. And on the top of it, Swanö gave one of his (and it seems last as a growler) vilest performance ever, as if wanting to show his former friends in Bloodbath how it’s done. Did I like it? Boy, I freakin’ worshipped that album from the get-go. Check mate. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MACERATION — “SERPENT DEVOURMENT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Oct 242024
 

Almost exactly two years ago we had the privilege and great pleasure to premiere a fantastic new album by one of the earliest death metal bands to come out of Denmark — Maceration. That album, It Never Ends…, was the first Maceration full-length since their pioneering debut album A Serenade of Agony in 1992.

The comeback album drew a lot of quick attention because, like the Maceration debut, it featured guest vocals by Dan Swanö, but the record proved to be a mad and monstrous success for many reasons beyond Swanö‘s vocals (though the vocals were indeed extremely good).

It is thus excellent news that Maceration‘s  will continue their return with another new album on the Emanzipation Productions label to follow up It Never Ends…. To help spread the word, and to give you a strong taste of what’s coming, we’re now hosting the premiere of the album’s title track, “Serpent Devourment“, which will be released as a digital single on October 25th. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2022’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 13): MACERATION, DECIPHER, GRAVEDANCER

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2022  No Responses »
Jan 182023
 

Like yesterday’s installment of this list, today’s lucky 13th grouping doesn’t have much rhyme or reason to it. I mean, all these songs are here because I found them all highly infectious and very good in different ways, but I sure won’t claim that they have many other connections.

Oh, I guess I should mention that all three happened to be either songs or videos we premiered at NCS, though that’s not the reason I picked them.

MACERATION (Denmark)

I feel honored every time someone asks us to host a music premiere, but I admit I was especially excited when we were asked to premiere the come-back album of this Danish death metal band last year. Not only did it represent the return of a group who made a heavy mark in the old annals of death metal with their 1992 debut A Serenade of Agony, it also featured Dan Swanö stepping in again to fill the session vocal role, as he did under the name Day Disyraa for that 1992 debut. And the new album also turned out to be really fucking good — an opinion I attempted to justify at great length in a review accompanying the premiere. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MACERATION — “IT NEVER ENDS…”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 232022
 

It is with considerable pride and pleasure that we present a complete stream of It Never Ends…, a new album by the Danish band Maceration — pride, because this marks the return of a group who made a heavy mark in the old annals of death metal with their 1992 debut A Serenade of Agony, and pleasure, because the new second album is really fucking good.

In a time when metal re-births seem increasingly common, the resurrection of Maceration after three decades still seems worth an extra measure of attention, in part because for their new album Dan Swanö has again stepped in to fill the session vocal role, as he did under the name Day Disyraa for that 1992 debut. He hasn’t done growled vocals since the halcyon days of Edge of Sanity, but you couldn’t guess that from his performance here. His monstrous growls, ravenous howls, and wretched gagging emissions are frighteningly powerful throughout.

But as vital as those vocals are to the success of It Never Ends…, it is of course the quality of the songwriting and musicianship that weighs most heavily in the balance between success and failure, and there the credit goes to original guitarists Jakob Schultz and Lars Bangsholt, bassist Robert Tengs, and drummer Rasmus Schmidt (Illdisposed, ex-Myrkur). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MACERATION — “LOST IN DEPRAVITY”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Oct 192022
 

One month ago we were floored to discover a new single by the Danish death metal band Maceration, their first new music since the band’s first and only album (until now), 1992’s A Serenade of Agony. We hope you’ll forgive us repeating some of what we wrote last month, little knowing that we would have the opportunity today to help present another new single in advance of a new Maceration album’s release on November 25th via Emanzipation Productions.

In a time when metal re-births seem increasingly common, the resurrection of Maceration still seems worth an extra measure of attention, in part because for their new album It Never Ends… Dan Swanö has again stepped in to fill the session vocal role, as he did under the name Day Disyraa for Maceration‘s first album 30 years ago. Original guitarists Jakob Schultz and Lars Bangsholt are also back, together with bassist Robert Tengs and drummer Rasmus Schmidt (Illdisposed, ex-Myrkur). Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY (PART 2): MACERATION, FLIEGE, DEFLESHED, VATHR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 172022
 

Lo and behold I got Part 2 of today’s round-up finished, so I didn’t completely embarrass myself. I may still be embarrassed if I can’t complete Part 3 before having to turn to personal chores and begin thinking about tomorrow’s Shades of Black column. I guess it will be like having my pants part-way down but not showing the full plumber’s crack in all its hideous glory.

MACERATION (Denmark)

In a time when metal re-births seem increasingly common, the resurrection of Maceration still seems worth an extra measure of attention, in part because for their new album Dan Swanö has again stepped in to fill the session vocal role, as he did under the name Day Disyraa for Maceration‘s first album 30 years ago.

Original guitarists Jakob Schultz and Lars Bangsholt are also back, together with bassist Robert Tengs and drummer Rasmus Schmidt (Illdisposed, ex-Myrkur). Continue reading »