ALBUM REVIEW: Sounds of a Disease – SKAM

When putting on a record with a title like Sounds Of A Disease you should brace yourself for an unrelenting blast of carnage, additionally in the case of this one man Swedish grind outfit SKAM, you should also brace yourself for a huge dose of fun. Now, words like ‘fun’ seldom come up when discussing grindcore, but a huge range of other extreme metal influences sneak their way onto Sounds Of A Disease and give life to a ludicrous Frankenstein monster of crust metal bedlam. 

From the very start Sounds Of A Disease both assaults and delights with a barrage of tooth shattering grindcore riffs. The pace is insane but breaks with epic flare until the next track jumps right back into the fray. A lesser grind record would be content with repeating that formula until the 30 minute mark but When Liquid Is The New Solid throws the noise into a twisted operatic spiral not unlike the grandiose end of EMPEROR or Altars Of Madness-era MORBID ANGEL. The record as a whole has a black metal chill to it with the constant blasting drums, sole member M’s searing high vocals, or the guitars going from full speed to cheeky flares like on Learning To Die which reeks of blackened death. 

The moments when SKAM reach their most entertaining and grin-inducing is when they go full-on bombastic, like when riffs reach such high points they almost become silly, showcased in the brilliant Shit Out Of Luck or when they just become so unbelievably unrelenting they’ll make you remark any number of expletives like on the title track. The record also reaches moments of catchiness on tracks like these as well as the rabid Millstone Gallows and Prison Of Skin. That’s right, catchiness! On a death/grind record! That said, the album never sacrifices its brutality whilst giving the listener loads to latch on to. Instead SKAM take after acts like ANAAL NAKRATH, FULL OF HELL, and CATTLE DECAPITATION not necessarily in sound but in their ability to make extreme, abrasive music that can still get its hooks you in and demands you to be entertained.

It’s an irony that a record that will so easily slap a smile on an extreme music fan’s face has lyrics which deal with an all too familiar darkness. The lyrical theme centres around the growing mental health crisis in the world today, you hear it in the heart-breaking news clips sampled around the tracks, contrasting the energetic riffs. But Sounds Of A Disease is also a record of catharsis and cleansing, when those blast beats kick in it momentary purges that negativity. It’s something the mass of people whose mental health’s are deteriorating in endless lockdowns need right now. When the world needs it most SKAM show up out of nowhere and provide grindcore to help us heal. 

Rating: 9/10

Sounds of a Disease is set for release January 29th via Hammerheart Records. 

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