Review by Felix on May 10, 2019.

Whenever my grandma (R.I.P.) heard that a young lady had become unintentionally pregnant, she smiled knowingly and said: "Nature always finds its way." That's true, but I like to add: whenever I hear rasping, sometimes galloping guitars, a rushing snare and more or less raw vocals, I smile contently, think of my grandma and say: "Speed metal always finds its way". In the case of Victim of Fate, this way has led to another continent. The dudes hail from Mexico and do what all newcomers (should) do: they play the music they like and due to the fact that they act very tightly, this demo does not sound amateurish in any way. Even the production does not originate from a dusty cellar. Of course, I don't listen to a professional sound, but it would be unfair to set the bar too high. The three tracks are presented with a more or less proper amount of pressure and the guitars dominate without marginalizing the contributions of bass, drums and vocals. And so, coming back to my grandma, the band can be proud of its first baby.

Victim of Fate have a good grasp of compact compositions and maybe the solid riffs that carry the songs are just the harbinger of something greater. Speculations aside, the riffs guarantee a more than acceptable level and especially "Wiredslave" has a raw, aggressive touch that fits the musical approach very well. Furthermore, its solo hits the mark - no doubt, the guitar work marks the greatest asset of the band. The vocals leave room for optimization, because they just accompany the six strings without leaving their own aroma. But this is not to say that they reveal major deficiencies. Better still, the entire demo is free from serious flaws. I don't know how much time it took to record the songs in this form, but the result is convincing.

Frankly speaking, this material whets the appetite for more and I hope that Victim of Fate don't get lazy. Maybe they can convince 50% of the citizens of Mexico City to buy this demo - this should be motivation enough to go on. But jokes aside, even if this is not possible, they can count on the support of the underground metal maniacs worldwide. Victim of Fate will not unhinge the world, but they deliver three songs that reflect the unbroken fascination of speed metal. And, as mentioned above, speed metal always finds its way. Ask your grandma, if you don't believe it.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Michael on June 29, 2024.

The Formless Fires is the third full-length album by Swedish Kvaen. The bar was set pretty high for this one since the guys around ex-The Duskfall guitarist Jacob Björnfot have released two really exciting albums with The Funeral Pyre and The Great Below. And of course these two albums weren't left unnoticed in the scene so Kvaen got a contract with Metal Blade Records for the new album.

Musically there wasn't much change much though. The opener is pretty harsh black metal, furious and super fast but with the typical melodies that are known from Kvaen already. Sometimes Jacob tends to go into full-speed with songs like the title track or 'Basilisk' which is kind of brutal death metal song wrapped in some blackish tunes and they are for sure good ones to enjoy. Especially when you focus on the guitar work you will be quite often left with an open mouth in front of your stereo. I mean, just check the super duper melodic solo in 'The Basilisk'.

What I personally prefer are the mid-tempo crushers like 'De Dödas Sång' which is peppered with a lot of really melancholic melodies and is full of Dissection-worship. 'De Dödas Sång' comes along like a battle horse that runs towards you without any remorse and even though you see it coming you cannot get out of its way. It is just a track that rams you down with all the things happening in there. Melodies, harshness, tons of epic heaviness. Or 'The Perpetual Darkness' – this one reminds me so much of the Swedish melodic black metal bands back from the 90s like The Moaning or Dawn only the production is up-to-date.

On 'Traverse The Nether' Sebastian Ramstedt from Necrophobic once again has a guest appearance and this one also tends to go to full-speed. The leads are quite typical for Jacobs songwriting, nevertheless there is some more drama in the song because of the climax and tension in the compositional structure that gets build up here. Again, here is so much happening that it is hard to put it into words.

Closing the album with 'The Wings Of Death' I thought that this would turn out into some ultra evil black metal worship for bands like Degial (guess, I had their ugly and stinking debut album “Death's Striking Wings” in mind) but out came a very atmospheric song which is probably the most melodic one on The Formless Fires. Interrupted by some rough and pummeling drumming the atmosphere could be described as a mixture between Viking-era Bathory and some traditional heavy metal bands, only painted black (forgive me the little pun here).

To sum up my bla bla a little bit to tighten it some more – The Formless Fires has become another really great album by Kvaen which doesn't focus on the folk aspect anymore and also, the very fast and uncompromising songs were spared out in favor of some more atmospheric songs. I wouldn't say that they turned out to have a higher quality in the case of songwriting because the previous two albums were already top notch but I would state that The Formless Fires show some more skills when it comes to broader compositions and a higher diversity.

Rating: 9.4 out of 10