Let’s face it, Swedish Death Metal™ is on the verge of collapsing once again; in between the old timers showing the kids how it’s done and those students from abroad surpassing the masters, everybody’s trying to seize it.
And when, like Gutter Instinct, you’ve arrived quite late with only one quite forgettable EP under your belt, the challenge is twice as hard. Yet, while their first proper full-length still has both feet planted firmly in the Stockholm tradition, they’re also citing Bölzer, Teitanblood and other black metal-affiliated squads as influences, meaning there’s also something creepier in the background, with d-beats swapped out for some blackish distorted melodies and chaotic drum parts that still convey an ‘old-school’ feeling, only adding to the overall menacing mood. Gutter Instinct are dipping the classic ‘Sverige dödsmetal’ sound into something more sinister and less straightforward that goes beyond the simple ‘Entombed clone’ tag. All that’s missing is a distinctive sound of their own, but this is full of (dark) promises.
