In my humble opinion, what this world needs more of is quality death metal. If you look at the statistics, including worldwide crime rates, life expectancy and literacy, there seems to be a direct correlation of the amount of death metal in the world to the general quality of life worldwide. Although I can’t say with perfect certainty whether this correlation indicates a true cause/effect relationship, I do find a general increase in my own quality of life when I’m experiencing an abundance of quality death metal. Fortunately for me and the rest of the world, Sweden is always ready to do its part to make the world a better place to live.

Not content to rest on the laurels of past contributions, Sweden continues to produce top-notch death metal bands. Facing Death is a side project of members of Canopy and Subcyde whose demo I came into possession of fairly randomly. However, I’m quite glad it did.

Facing Death lets you know they mean business from the beginning. Eyes Of Hell crescendos into a robust growl and an explosion of drumming and deep, threatening riffing. The threats coalesce into a grooving melody that’s complemented by the vocals, a deep, resonant growl. The melody isn’t enough to push Facing Death into true melodic death territory, however – this is pure Swedish death metal; it will tear your face off with a rusty blade and you’ll enjoy it.

The biggest impression the listener takes away from Facing Death's demo is one of layers. The production is slightly raw, giving a layer of filth and a dirty crunch to the guitars. The drums dominate the mix throughout; with their slightly hollow quality, they stand out from the rest of the song, making the riffs and melodies into dark currents running underneath.

Facing Death plays with these layers quite a bit. Wargod Of Hate begins with a robust, staccato riff and healthy dose of bass drum. Halfway through, most of the drumming drops away, to leave the grooving riff paramount. The vocal melody is more drawn-out, contrasting with the shorter, crunchy riffing and giving even more layered depth to the song. This separation between the guitars and vocals is utilized to great effect on all four tracks; although the two sets of melody are more closely matching on other tracks like Liar, the vocals are even higher than the drums in the mix, so the distance is maintained.

The vocals themselves are a high point. They’re deep, rough and rasping, but enunciated clearly enough for the listener to be able to understand the lyrics fairly well. The style fits perfectly with the brutally melodic guitars and dark, threatening feeling running throughout.

Rough around the edges and not remarkably original, Facing Death has certainly succeeded in producing something that falls squarely into the category of quality death metal. Any death metal fan would be well-advised to check these guys out.