Punk era DARKTHRONE of Death Metal. With “The Eternal Hunger”, the Swedish band HARROWED have crafted an album that doesn’t ask for permission: it bursts in, smashes everything to smithereens and leaves you with a ringing in your ears that smacks of satisfaction and nihilism. Released via Dying Victims Productions, this album marks the band’s full-length debut, brimming with innate ferocity. The beating heart of the album is the infamous HM-2 pedal. That “chainsaw” guitar tone, typical of old school Swedish Death Metal, is here, however, muddied by a Crust Punk attitude that makes the whole thing much faster and rawer. It shifts from furious blast beats to muddy mid-tempo sections reminiscent of ENTOMBED. There is a constant sense of urgency and claustrophobia. This isn’t “ambient music”; it’s music that takes over your living space. The album doesn’t waste time on fluff. The running time is just right for an album of this kind: long enough to leave you exhausted, but short enough to make you hit “play” again. “The Eternal Hunger” is an honest, direct yet evocative album. If you love a dirty sound, guitars that scrape at the walls and drums that sound like a marching battalion, HARROWED are the band for you. A perfect blend of Swedish Death Metal and Crust Punk. In recent years, many bands have fused Crust with Metal (not just Death – think of DODSRIT with Black Metal), and HARROWED are certainly destined to become cornerstones of the Death Metal scene. Hit them or the label here: www.facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal, www.facebook.com/dyingvictimsproductions