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RIBSPREADER
The Van Murders – Part 2

Xtreem Music (2018)
Rating: 8.5/10

Some heavyweight death metal is on the agenda here with Ribspreader, the brainchild of riffmeister Rogga Johansson. The Swedish musician happens to be one of the genre’s most prolific artists with numerous bands under his belt, including the likes of Down Among The Dead Men, Echelon, Putrevore, Johansson & Speckmann, and Dead Sun.

Ribspreader have been around since 2003, Rogga embarking on an album murder spree with 2004 debut Bolted To The Cross. Since then he’s coughed up seven full-length records, including this one, the most recent being 2016’s Suicide Gate – A Bridge To Death.

Just pluck any opus from this band’s impressive discography though, and you’ll be drizzled in sticky residue caused by worming solos, aching dark rhythms, snarling vocals and percussion so dense that one would think that the chief sticksman is hammering the bathtub with the skull of his latest victim.

The recordings for The Van Murders – Part 2 actually date back several years as a companion to 2011’s The Van Murders. So, Rogga is joined on this album by lead guitarist Kjetil Lynghaug and drummer Brynjar Helgetun for what is a formidable record literally crusted in blood-soaked riffs and peppered by percussive stabs sure to leave ghastly holes in the flesh.

The Van Murders – Part 2 offers up some of Rogga’s most devastating and heavy riffs – just check out the rumbling menace of ‘Equipped To Kill’ backed up by the pulverising drum fire – but what I really adore about this opus is the ability of the band to create dismal, slower melodies which work in stylish, slick tandem with the faster bouts of aggression. A track such as ‘Come Out And Play Dead’ springs to mind, with its nasty melodious strain then sudden rush and gush of bruising fluidity. Rogga’s vocals are downright creepy; frothing laps of sneering narration cavort in a perverse manner, with a swirl of leads. Then again, whether fast or slow, this band knows how to dredge up bodies.

Closer ‘Travelling Band Of The Dead’ offers up a crunching menace before unleashing itself as a spitting bout of furious venom, taking us back to the seething, loose melody of opening cut ‘Departure LA’ where the listener finds something distinctly Swedish and yet away from the generic Entombed aping.

Throughout this album, there’s just so much energy. The Van Murders – Part 2 feels as if the combo has splayed its festering guts on the table for all to see, the riffs just hacking and slashing at those innards, causing us to revel and soak in the spouting crimson while the drums slice and dice, cleverly chopping and hacking, reducing us to rougher yet smaller chunks before the bass mops us up, smearing any remnants of life onto the walls. It’s almost as if we’re there with the story, hiding in the cupboard while the killer sharpens up his weapons to the soundtrack of the scowling voices in his head.

As each track pummels, we’re drenched in barbaric melody; that hook of ‘Flesh Desperados’ is a fleshy, ravenous treat for the ears, while ‘Meat Bandit’ and ‘The Cleaners Theme’ dishes up extra servings of riffage, each dotted with doomier squalid nods. It’s as if Rogga is turning into the Tony Iommi of the death metal world, his crusty cupboard stocked full of gems that he pulls out when he sees fit; each one is suited to a particular cutting lead, bubbling bass or festering drum pattern, all which are added to the pit of horror to attract the flies.

Although Ribspreader continues to nod towards old school death metal values, there is something modern yet refreshing about Rogga’s designs; behemoths coated with fusty airs of familiarity, and yet brimming with energy and intelligent melody to the point of giving birth to something slightly unusual.

There’s nothing progressive or innovative about The Van Murders – Part 2, or any Ribspreader slab for that matter, but the quality of such structures is evident for all to see.

Neil Arnold

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