I have to thank Century Media for a phenomenal re-issue. AFFLICTED are from Stockholm, Sweden and play progressive / technical Death Metal. “Prodigal Sun” is their first full length that pretty much borrows songs from their previous demo releases. Musically, this is quite a refreshing sound. When I heard them briefly many years ago, I was expecting to hear the traditional HM2 sound but AFFLICTED did a 180 to the traditional Swedish approach in the ’90s and paved their own path. I don’t know how well their music was received, especially considering that this album was originally released in 1992, a year later than DEATH’s “Human”, which was a perfect package of all things technical. AFFLICTED on the other hand dipped their pinkies into a lot of pies, a hint of middle eastern sound, a pinch of psychedelia, a touch of the progressive overlords (DREAM THEATER released their brilliant second album in 1992) and heavily from the original old school Death Metal gods. Nothing in this album is as you’d expect an early ’90s Death Metal album to sound and I can imagine how well it was commercially received back then, I mean there were four CYNIC demos released by then, which did good business demo wise but anyway, leaving that part out. AFFLICTED’s songwriting is fantastic, although the approach is slightly unpolished with the instruments making their own directions on the mix, the solos sound gracious, the rhythm section is relentless, it is perhaps the highlight of the album. The drumming is actually phenomenal. This is where I’d compare it to Sean Reinert’s playing in “Human”, what a delight! Right from the Arabic opener ‘Prodigal Sun’, the band ensures they’ve captured the essence of a good jam-room sound. All in all, the Sunlight Studio sound shines bright on this album and I’ve got to give the band their due credit here, their writing has lead to an amazing unorthodox Death Metal release when the Metal market would’ve been saturated with the generic clones during that time. To sum it rather delicately, AFFLICTED’s sound is an amalgamation of creative writing with razor sharp execution. “Prodigal Sun” holds its ground even in 2023. I wish some bands heard this music, it would’ve told them that sometimes just giving in to whatever feels right might not be a bad thing. AFFLICTED absolutely slay through out the album. The longest song is just under six minutes long and the rest of the tracks fall neatly between the ideal length and not too long. With aggressive vocals channeling the abrasive outlook of the band, AFFLICTED’s “Prodigal Sun” definitely needs to be on your list of things to hear this year. Century Media has certainly elevated this album with the quality of this re-issue. I genuinely hope many more fans of Death Metal listen to this record just so they can hear what Death Metal with absolutely no rules sounds like. For more information, please visit www.facebook.com/centurymedia