The Ugly – Decreation

Interesting that this album would be titled as such, considering it’s rather a form of creation than destruction.  But before we get to that, let’s consider Swedish black metal.  Sweden has a rather interesting history in the genre, being that it, though rooted in Scandinavian tradition, is somewhat separate in how it developed.  You have your greats, of course, such as Dissection, and your more cultish (we don’t use the damn V around here) acts such as Nifelheim, but regardless if you’re more into the upper or lower crust of such bands, the difference between the typical Swedish sound and other black metal veins spilling blood throughout the world should be obvious.  There’s something different to it, something with roots more heavily entrenched in melodic, death metal, and even a bit of punk, though with a more grainy and blackened quality.  Sweden, if anywhere, has proven that classical style can be manipulated, made something new, domestic, and after hearing countless bands from over there we are, yet again, not disappointed.

  

The Ugly is sadly still unknown to most metalheads in the kvltosphere, in spite of the fact that they’ve been building momentum since their inception in 2004.  After solidifying as a band in 2006, they finished their first release, Slaves to the Decay, which received silent acclaim in Europe but went largely unnoticed elsewhere.  That link we provided there should give you an idea of their sound and why we went on a bit of a historical rant above.  Their sound, like many bands in the Swedish dark underground, mixes several styles, all heavily crusted over with black, and here, with Decreation, it’s been more refine, more developed, but still full of the assault you’re looking for, the kind of assault that makes you want to probably do something illegal.

 

Decreation is opposite of its meaning, more of a structuring of classic Swedish filth, and it wants not of decoration.  Immediately The Ugly opens with the beauty of the riff, perfectly crafted, finely produced, but yet scabbed over like so many gruesome slashes to one’s flesh.  What should be noticeable to any fans of Swedish metal is the absolute accessibility of this album from the beginning, in fact these guys are so solid and strongly entrenched in their home country you’d think for a second Dissection actually sounded good, but it’s actually The Ugly.  Every piece in the overall grotesque puzzle has been sewn together deliberately, carefully, and artfully.  Nothing will be found overbearing except the album in its totality, we should state simply; there’s little time to take a single breath.  If there’s any complaint to be made it’s that everything’s so consistent it might, to the untrained ear, sound unflinchingly similar throughout the nearly one-hour run, but this is merely a feature of The Ugly’s sound in this particular presentation.  It’s solid, meaty, of a higher power, and almost without fault to a fault.  But when you catch all the complexities of their structures you’ll realize that statement is as meaningless as it sounds.  Sure to be one of the Swedish names everyone recognizes if they keep it up.

 

The Ugly Official Facebook

Written by Stanley Stepanic

The Ugly: Decreation
ViciSolum Productions
4.5 / 5