Feared – “Vinter”

Featuring, amongst their ranks, ex-members of Chimaira, The Haunted and controversial Swedish rap-metallers Clawfinger, Feared have been knocking around since 2007 and, well, it has to be said, their fourth album, Vinter, sounds exactly like you’d expect it to sound. Not that that is a bad thing, it just means Vinter offers up lots in the way of crunchy, moshy modern metal but little in the way of surprises.

That being said, what Feared do they do really fucking well. Songs like “Your God” and “Erased” are polished nuggets of modern, crunchy death metal that’ll sit very nicely with those of you who like the kind of clinical brutality peddled by Cleveland heavyweights Chimaira. Obviously, like I said, there isn’t much in the way of surprises contained within the content of Vinter but, hell, when you’ve got someone like Kevin Talley providing the pummelling backbone to your sound, you’d expect nothing other than full throttle brutality. Huldra on the other hand comes straight out of the Swedish melodi-death metal scene and is equally as pleasing on the ears but does sound like it’s been nabbed from an In Flames, Haunted, At The Gates studio session.

Overall then, if you buy an album from a band that features ex-members of Haunted, Clawfinger and Chimaira then you should not expect anything than an album that sounds like that. Admittedly, it’s a bloody good effort, just don’t come away feeling short changed because the album you’ve bought doesn’t reinvent the wheel.

Track Listing:

01. Sun Awake
02. Needle Effect
03. Your God
04. Hate Is Everything
05. Mass Destruction
06. Erased
07. Huldra
08. Invidia
09. Mylingen
10. My Shadow World
11. Vinter

Running Time: 40:48
Release Date: November 25, 2014

Check out the song “Mylingen”