Review by Sonny for Ribspreader - Reap Humanity (2024)

I am unfamiliar with Ribspreader, but am acquainted with main man Rogga Johansson, particularly through one of his other bands, his death doom outfit, The 11th Hour. It seems that Rogga has acquired a reputation for producing predictable and uninspiring death metal, but as I am unfamiliar with the vast majority of his output, I will consider Reap Humanity on it's own merits.

With the band hailing from Sweden, I was fully expecting an Entombed / Dismember sounding album and whilst it isn't as heavily distorted as many of the band's compatriots, it does retain that Swedish wall-of-sound production that results in the riffs sounding exceedingly dense and doesn't depart hugely from the long-established template of Swedeath. As far as the riffs go, it is fair to say that there is nothing here that truly stands out as exceptional, yet by the same token there is nothing particularly terrible either. I do like Rogga's vocals, they have that gruff, caustic edge to them that sounds quite vitriolic and threatening, although at times they seem to get muscled out of the way by the riffing which sees them taking a bit of a back seat, where personally I would have liked to hear them pushed more to the fore.

The leads are handled by guitarist Taylor Nordberg and are well executed, although once more there isn't anything particularly outstanding to behold and you can pretty much predict the way the solos will play out. Drummer Jeramie Kling, who is also a member of Inhuman Condition with Obituary and former Death bassist Terry Butler, also puts in a creditable performance behind the kit with a lively exhibition of powerful death metal skinsmanship that helps to turbo charge the velocity of the riffing.

Overall, I would have to agree that the criticism of the band is valid and Ribspreader bring little to nothing new to the table, having turned in a solid, meat-and-potatoes-flavoured album of pretty standard Swedish death metal that is perfectly fine. The drumming and vocals were the big takeaways for me, but I suspect more seasoned fans of death metal than I will be largely unimpressed.