Album Review: Vomitory - All Heads are Gonna Roll

Vomitory’s new album “All Heads are Gonna Roll” will be released 05/26/2023 on Metal Blade Records.

Sweden’s Vomitory have returned after a twelve-year absence with the release of their new album All Heads are Gonna Roll. The follow up to 2011’s Opus Mortis VIII, the band comes rising like a phoenix from their dark slumber with a strong release of gravely-laden vocals, tremolo guitar playing and blasting drums that showcases the band’s furious passion for death metal.

The album opens with the title track, which right off the bat, starts with the piecing precision drumming of Tobias Gustafsson which is a highlight on this record. His drumming is matched by the fast-paced guitars of Urban Gustafsson & Peter Östlund. Then, after the intensity hits a fever pitch, the guttural & gravely vocals of bassist and frontman Erik Rundqvist bring the aggression and add to the vigor of the band. Rundqvist’s vocals are mixed well with the band and have an almost Glen Benton from Deicide sound to it on the song, which I love personally since I am a HUGE Deicide fan. There is also a great guitar solo by Östlund near the end which adds a nice final note, closing the song out, and starting the record out on a high note.

“Ode To The Meat Saw” starts with booming drums, hitting loud and proud in the production, and adding and magnifying the slow guitar buildup. The opening itself gives off a Slayer Seasons in The Abyss-era feel to it before the tremolo guitar playing kicks in, which the band merges those two styles very well. The song, a more mid-tempo track compared to a lot of the album, is a great song and done well to Vomitory’s style of death metal. Another banger, “The Deepest Tomb”, another track with so much tremolo playing it’ll give you carpal tunnel, but it’s a great song to head bang to with a great drum fill going into the bridge and another great solo by Östlund, which I feel he should have done more solos on the record. When he does them, he adds the right emphasis and doesn’t go shred crazy trying to hit every note on the fretboard, but that’s just my opinion.

The album’s standout track for me is “Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead”. The song kicks off with Rundqvist’s gutturals. Just heavy, brooding and ominous, it just brings more emphasis to the dark tone and subject matter of the song. With more tremolo guitars and a punk style toms fill before picking up the pace even faster with the guitars on the second verse. This is a heavy and future classic from the band. While listening to it, I completely picture the crowd chanting along the song’s title live while fists are pounding and a circle pit during it. The album’s closer “Beg For Death” has a nice very slow build with the guitars, and continues the band’s relentless fury of musicianship and closes the album strong and shows this band is back and has something to prove after being gone so long.

Overall, All Heads are Gonna Roll is a great return to form for the band. With elements of their last record, to having elements of some of their classic records like Blood Rapture and Revelation Nausea, Vomitory are back with a fiery vengeance and I can’t wait for another record. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for it.

Track Listing

1) All Heads are Gonna Roll (03:27)

2) Decrowned (03:27)

3) Ode To The Meat Saw (04:44)

4) The Deepest Tomb (04:28)

5) Piece By Stinking Piece (03:23)

6) Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead (03:19)

7) Dead Man Stalking (04:48)

8) Disciples of The Damned (03:29)

9) Dead World (04:06)

10) Beg For Death (05:34)

SCORE:  9 / 10

Release: 05/26/2023

Label: Metal Blade Records

FFO: Vader, Deicide, Malevolent Creation