MACERATION
Serpent Devourment EMANZIPATION PRODCUCTIONS
Danish death metallers pick up the pace
Given that Maceration’s first two albums, 1992’s complex but undercooked A Serenade Of Agony and 2022’s glorious, Scandideath delight It Never Ends…, were released 30 years apart, Serpent Devourment has arrived in a relative blink of an eye. Guest vocalist Dan Swanö, who sang on the earlier records, is absent here, but it otherwise stays true to the left-hand path laid down by its predecessor. Main songwriter and sole constant member Jakob Schulz (formerly of Invocator) goes for a full-on death metal approach, stripping away the D-beat influences favoured by many of the Swedish bands who originally inspired him. Live vocalist Jan Bergmann Jepsen does a fine job of filling Dan Swanö’s shoes, but it’s the familiar yet catchy brutality that is Maceration’s strongest suit. ■■■■■■■■■■