Posted on: August 11, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

What happens when a group of people strongly devoted to the death & black metal scene decides to join forces and form a band together? You might say it depends on the people, but when you’re talking about ex-members of the Swedish juggernaut Dissection you can be sure that this newborn formation will deliver some truly heavy dosage of metal annihilation – and that’s exactly what Soulreaper does… Their debut LP “Written In Blood” (2000) received a handful of positive opinions from the metal press – reviewers compared Soul Reaper to such giants as Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Vader and Vital Remains. The album offered seven crushing tracks, featuring multiple tempo-changes, fast and deadly drumming, brilliant soloing and even some acoustic parts! Echoes of Dissection still sound on “Written In Blood” – the compositions perfectly combine death metal and black metal elements, creating a truly astounding mixture.

Metal Mind Productions presents re-release of “Written In Blood” in a new digipak edition. The material digitally remastered using 24-Bit process on golden disc will be available in 2000 copies. The release date is set up for 15th September 2008 in Europe and 28th October 2008 in USA (via MVD).

Soulreaper
“Written In Blood” (remastered)

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1227 DG
Barcode: 5907785033559
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 2000 numerated copies)
Genre: death metal
Release date: 15.09.2008 Europe / 28.10.2008 USA

Tracklist:

1. Darken The Sign
2. Written In Blood
3. Satanized
4. Ungodly
5. Subterranean Might
6. Seal of Degradation
7. Labyrinth of the Deadthlord

Bio
The band’s origins reach back to 1997, when shortly after Dissection’s first split-up (the group reunited in 2004 only to definitely disband in 2006, after vocalist Jon Nödtveidt committed suicide) drummer Tobias R. Kellgren and guitarist Johan Norman decided to form a completely new project, but with the same amount of brutality intact. With the addition of Mattias Eliasson (guitar), Christopher Hjertén (vocals) and Mikael Lang (bass) the line-up was complete and the band was born under the name Reaper. Unfortunately, Eliasson was soon forced to leave his colleagues due to personal reasons and got replaced by Christoffer Hermansson. In early 1998 the group contacted Nuclear Blast Records and sent them their four-track demo tape. The label responded very lively and soon it was obvious they wanted Reaper in their ranks. Thus the recording of the band’s debut album begun in January 1999…
“Written In Blood” eventually got released in March 2000, but right before that the group had to change their name to Soul Reaper, due to legal problems with a band that was already called Reaper. The debut LP instantly received a handful of positive opinions from the metal press – reviewers compared Soul Reaper to such giants as Morbid Angel, Suffocation, Vader and Vital Remains. The album offered seven crushing tracks, featuring multiple tempo-changes, fast and deadly drumming, brilliant soloing and even some acoustic parts! Echoes of Dissection still sound on “Written In Blood” – the compositions perfectly combine death metal and black metal elements, creating a truly astounding mixture.
Soon after the album was released, Hermansson left the group and Soul Reaper welcomed a new guitarist, Stefan Karlsson. Unfortunately, the partnership with Nuclear Blast did not last long and the band was forced to look for another label. In April 2002 they signed a deal with Hammerhead Records and soon went down to the famous Los Angered Studios to work on their second LP with producer Andy LaRocque. “Life Erazer” was released on June 2003 and brought another dose of brilliantly balanced death/black metal.
Unfortunately, soon after the second album got released, the band called it a day, leaving behind two excellent LPs with some of the most memorable material on the extreme metal scene. This exclusive re-release of “Written In Blood” captures the band at its best, delivering pure sonic mayhem straight to your ears. Be sure not to miss out on this death & black metal feast!!!

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