Sweden’s masters of busyness, also known as HEAVYDEATH, are here again, with their second full length release in this year. “Dark Phoenix Rising” is the follow up to “Eternal Sleepwalker”, that saw the pale light of day in March, released by Svart Records. Since I still haven’t heard that album, I can only refer to the demos I already had the pleasure to listen to or review for these pages. And this new album shows another face of HEAVYDEATH. Of course, the opening ‘Dead Trees’ has the heaviness this band is known for – hence their name! But the guitar leads are very much accented here, giving the song a kind of even psychedelic feeling. But then the other ten minute epic ‘Bow Down’ returns to the awesome dark and yet groovy heaviness with a certain touch of SAINT VITUS. Just HEAVYDEATH as fuck! With these two fine songs on the first side of the album, the three a little shorter tracks on the B-side have to measure themselves with heavyweights. But ‘The Ember Of The End’ knows how to get me in its grip – it just needs a damn hypnotizing groove like this and a rocking faster break in the end to make me bang my head slowly. And ‘From The Ashes’ picks up, where ‘Bow Down’ left off, since it has a very similar atmosphere and a damn slow ending, that really makes you return to the ashes. The closing title track is a very short song in terms of HEAVYDEATH and very catchy as well. But fans of the band should not fear, for it is, of course, heavy enough. So, after some listening sessions I can only state that “Dark Phoenix Rising” is another must for all the children of Doom out there. The album is available in a vile digital version and a fine and worthy tape version from Caligari, as usual strictly limited and created with a love for the good old tape cassette. So, visit the band at www.facebook.com/heavydeathofficial or www.heavydeath.com and the dedicated label at www.caligarirecords.com or www.facebook.com/caligarirecords