Seance - Fornever Laid to Rest (1992)^{Release ID: 27829}

There are times in the life of any committed metalhead when they discover a release that leaves them truly bewildered as to how it's managed to slip under the radar of the rest of the metal community. When they realise that they've maintained a life-long love affair with a record that others simply don't seem to place as much value on. When they feel like they're privy to a wonderful secret that no one else on Earth is allowed to know. That, ladies & gentlemen, is how I've felt about the 1992 debut album from Swedish death metallers Seance since way back in the early 1990's. You see, at a time when death metal was at its absolute peak, "Fornever Laid To Rest" sat up on a pedestal alongside the true greats of the genre with a pre-internet world not giving me the opportunity to find out that not everyone felt the same way that I did. I gave the album a heavy thrashing for a number of years there & it represented a pretty a big influence on my own band Neuropath as a result too but I often forget about it myself these days due to the fact that no one really talks about it. Looking back on it now though, the magic that "Fornever Laid To Rest" conatins has all come rushing back to me again & left me just as baffled as I was as a youngster back in the early 1990's.

Seance may have been from Sweden but "Fornever Laid To Rest" is nothing like the releases that were exploding out of that country at the time, sounding much more similar to the US scene that I maintained a much stronger affiliation with. It's about as death metal as they come in its approach with the five band members proving themselves to have a great pedigree & being more than capable as musicians. There's a slightly technical edge to Seance's song-writing style however they never really approach the borders that sit between your more conventional death metal & the more expansive tech death crowd. Instead, they use their more complex rhythmic moments to create additional interest which sees them stepping up in class from your average meat-&-potatoes death metal outfit. They're never too clinical in their execution though either. In fact, it could be argued that the performances could have been tightened up a little bit with some extra time & attention & that's probably the album's only weakness. It's funny because all of the individuals seem to be highly capable at their chosen craft however they don't quite bring it together in as tight a fashion as they potentially could have at times with drummer Micke Pettersson (Witchery) being the one that most often seems to find himself most challenged simply to keep up with everyone else. I do think that this element gives "Fornever Laid To Rest" a bit of additional street credibility though, in a similar way to that which Immolation were able to consistently create.

The production is spot on for this style of music as it presents all of the key elements that any self-respecting death metal fan looks out for. Everything is right up in your face with an enormous amount of energy on display but it's never difficult to decipher what's going on, even when Seance really put their foot down. The deep, aggressive vocals of front man Johan Larsson are utterly devastating & remind me of Deicide's Glen Benton at his very best. In fact, I'd suggest that Deicide was likely the primary source of influence for Seance however "Fornever Laid To Rest" is a significantly stronger effort than Deicide's highly regarded "Legion" sophomore album that hit the shelves just the day after Seance's debut in my opinion. I also find myself drawing comparisons to Gorguts' 1991 debut album "Considered Dead" quite regularly & if you combined those two releases then you wouldn't be far from imagining Seance's early sound.

The tracklisting is wonderfully consistent with most of the record managing to qualify for my prestigious Hall of Metal Glory category. The highlights come thick & fast with the title track being very hard to go past for the pick of the bunch. Opener "Who Will Not Be Dead", "The Blessing of Death", "Sin", "Haunter", the Cannibal Corpse-ish "Necronomicon" & closer "Inferna Cabbala" are all stunning in their scope & execution too though so how could I not be awarding an elite score to a release that boasts such an amazing array of elite-level death metal. This record is unapologetically right up my creative alley & it's lost none of its lustre with the passing years. If bands like Malevolent Creation & Monstrosity really float your boat then I'd hazard to suggest that you're in for a real treat with Seance too. Their 1993 follow-up record "Saltrubbed Eyes" may not have been quite as unanimous in its efficient carving up of my musical psyche but it was still a pretty decent death metal record too just quietly & is equally as over-looked. It's a totally uninhibited "Fuck yeah!" from this ol' extreme metal fanatic on this occasion guys.