It seems that after many albums full of progressive elements Dan Swanö finally re-discovered the good old Swedish Death Metal sound lately, cause RIBSPREADER is already the second band-project of his, and the logical follow-up to the two very cool BLOODBATH releases that came out on Century Media Records. According to a label’s infosheet RIBSPREADER is far more than just a "project" though (even though it originally started out as one), consisting of current and former Paganizer members (plus Dan on drums / guitars) with the intention to record more material in the not too distant future and the urge even to go on the road in order to play out live. A fact which is more than welcome to me, considering the refreshing songs the band has on offer already at this point of time! "Bolted To The Cross" is a collection of eight tunes that should easily appeal to everyone into the classic Swedish old school Death Metal style that was so popular in the late 80s / early 90s, represented worldwide by such legendary acts such as GRAVE, NIHILIST / early ENTOMBED, UNLEASHED, CARNAGE, DISMEMBER and so on. In fact, the album’s brilliant kick off tune ‘Dead Forever’ has a very ‘Before The Creation Of Time’ kinda feel to it (guitarsound, main riffing, rhythm), but due to vocalist Rogga’s more brutal way of singing it comes across a lot more devastating! And if you listen carefully you will find small musical quotes like that more often on the record, but never to the extend that "Bolted To The Cross" sounds like a cheap copy of the originals. The band has enough own ideas in their style and in direct comparison to BLOODBATH I personally even prefer RIBSPREADER’s material, for it is a lot more fresh and catchy (not wimpy though) sounding and comes up with the better production (done by Mr.Swanö himself of course). So, all in all this is an album that you shouldn’t miss out on if you are a worshipper of the famous Sunlight / Montezuma era of Swedish Death Metal. Cool one! All further info you may find here: http://listen.to/ribspreader or www.karmageddonmedia.com