Dödsvisioner (CD - 2007)

As Bergraven, the Swedish musician Par Gustafsson builds layers of mysterious, ambient guitar and electronica around his darker metal impulses, sketching soundscapes that conjure the more sylvan aspects of his country's dark, misty forests as well as the mysterious forces that inhabit them. "Den Svarta Angsten Essens" ambushes the listener in an explosion of guitar and drums, "Av Saknad Slacker Jag Ljuset"

cloaks its menace with alluring whispers, and the hypnotic "Doende (En Avslutning)" lures the unwary towards the abyss.

Some horror movie buffs would agree that the best movies of the genre are the slow-building ones -- not merely a string of grisly splatter scenes strung together from beginning to end. And some would say the same about death metal/black metal -- variation and slow-building beginnings are better than front-to-back riffing at 100 miles per hour. The Swedish band Bergraven obviously agree with this approach, as 2007's Dödsvisioner is not your average death metal fest -- heck, the first song, "Döende," begins with glacier-paced sound effects, as the track doesn't kick in until nearly three minutes in. Also, Bergraven keep the tempos moderately paced (an oddity in the oft-blazingly fast death metal genre), which only adds to the creepiness of such tracks as "Ondkall" and "Den Svarta Angstens Essens." Dödsvisioner is absolute proof that the death metal/black metal genre is still alive (or rather, undead) and well -- and that there is still ground to be broken in a genre that appeared to be taken to its limit a long time ago. ~ Greg Prato minimize