I think we need to have an in-depth look for what’s going on in Sweden right now, because these new bands I got to know recently made me curious in what the future will offer… The regular readers of Voices From The Darkside surely read my review of "Mass Genocide Ritual" as well as the interview I did with KATALYSATOR later on. During the interview Gotte said "the band you really need to check out is DEGIAL! They are the best band in Sweden right now!". Well, DEGIAL are more or less from KATALYSATOR’s surroundings and also include one member of KATALYSATOR. I wouldn’t go so far to say that DEGIAL is the best band from Sweden, as I don’t think they are, but for me it is very interesting to see that this bunch of youngsters really know how to play old school Death Metal the way we used to hear it back in the glory days. Everything sounds raw, unpolished and probably not perfect played but who cares about that as long as the atmosphere is the right one and you feel that the musicians play it with passion. That’s definitely the case here so let’s loose some words about this 3 track demo called "Awakening From Darkness" from the year 2006. It offers 2 regular tracks (‘Belial’ and ‘Unholy Curse’) as well as one instrumental track called ‘Awakening From Darkness’. The musicians take influences from the likes as MORBID ANGEL, DEATH or MERCILESS and I think to describe them we should place DEGIAL somewhere between MERCILESS and older DEATH. Anyway, I really like the bass on this recording, I have to admit, as it really pushes the songs straight forward, the drumming is quite effective, too, and great is the overall impression you get here as they don’t care so much about perfectionism, but feeling!! As I said, I don’t think that they are the best band from Sweden right now, but without doubt this is a great newcomer to watch out for. Blood Harvest Records did well in signing them for a 7"EP which you can expect within the next couple of months I hope. In the meantime check out www.myspace.com/degialdeathmetal and buy this democassette (yeah, fuckin’ old school part II) either from the band directly or from www.bloodharvest.se! The future of Death Metal looks promising with bands like DEGIAL!!!