TOXAEMIA
Buried to Rise: 1990-1991
(Dark Descent Records)
136:39min

TOXAEMIA belong to the first wave of Svensk DödsMetall, starting quite early in January ’89 in Motala, a town in the region of Östergötland, Sweden. Motala, along with Mjölby and Linkoping, were reference points of the most outrageous CARCASS / BOLT THROWER movement of whole Sweden, with many killer acts like SALVATION, SEANCE, TOTAL DEATH, BELSEBUB and TRAUMATIC.TOXAEMIA was initially conceived under different names like O.S.S. (ORGANIZED SUICIDE SYSTEM), MUTILATOR and ANGUISH, but in the end they got the final monicker, TOXAEMIA (e.g. a nice blood disease). What they achieved to mankind were two demos ("Kaleidoscopic Lunacy", 1990 and "Buried To Rot", 1991) and one seven inch ("Beyond The Realm", 1990) released under the demon-wings of no less than the rip-off label Seraphic Decay from Ohio. Later the 7" tracks were re-released on the Seraphic Decay sampler without any royalties to the band. Needless to say we’re talking of cult releases and most wanted items among all the Swedish Death worshippers. 20 years later a couple of labels (the American The Crypt Records and Dark Descent Records) had the idea to give them justice, releasing their full discography on wax (the first) and on plastic CDs (the latter). Disc 1 of this compilation features all TOXAEMIA releases in remixed / remastered versions by Dan Swanö, while Disc 2 additionally offers the original versions. The booklet offers handwritten original lyricsheets, demo covers, old pictures, reviews and line-notes by bass player Pontus Cervin and Dan Swanö. What about the music then? Talking about underrated Swedish bands, TOXAEMIA is for sure one of them. Basically what they achieved was growling, severly downtuned grinding Death Metal, having some parallels with bands such as SORCERY, MACABRE END and EXHUMED. I think what made their Swedish Dödsmetall unique, compared to the American scene, was the rather obscure and rotten sound, made of a graveyardish atmosphere. So the TOXAEMIA tunes are the perfect soundtrack for your classic graveyard grave-robbering. They didn’t have the typical clear Sunlight Studio sound, preferring their local Art Serv Studio of Ola Florhed in Mjölby and this made their stuff rather unique. To me the best tunes ‘Dark Wisdom’ and ‘Crematorium’ are included on the first demo. Shortly after that the 7" and the second demo saw the light of the day. They had a more clear sound, even if still buried to rot with the adding of some keyboard touches here and there, which recall the same macabre atmosphere as the classic 1991 "Blood Chilling Tales" LP of SORCERY. Definitely a band to check out… www.myspace.com/toxaemia2, www.darkdescent.net

Nicola Costantini

Nicola Costantini

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