Of all the regional variations of metal that have sprung up over the years, the Stockholm sound is as distinctive as it gets. There’s just something instantly recognizable about those “what if chainsaws did meth” riffs. Swedish debutants For the Pyres might be 400 km away from the capital but you can instantly hear the inspiration for much of At the Pyres of Sin. They have gathered us here today to pay tribute to HM-2 and that’s how I like it.
At the Pyres of Sin is very likeable from the start. “All Becomes None” starts with pounding aggression from the rhythm section that drives a despairing, wailing guitar lead and all of those things are pleasing to me. That pounding aggression is one of the main trademarks of For the Pyres‘ music. Track after track rushes along at the same whiplash speed and it isn’t until “For The Dawn”, halfway through the album, that For the Pyres slows down for more than thirty seconds. The other main trademark is an abrasive sense of melody that frequently borrows from the thrash playbook, as on “Enslave and Dominate” and the title track itself.
Put the two together and you get a no frills, meat and potatoes, hooky piece of violence that is at once a lot of fun and also a bit frustrating in its limitations. That’s a critical response, but I am meant to be being a critic here, and over the album’s run time For the Pyres fall just short of being so good at the simple stuff that it doesn’t matter if they keep to the simple stuff. The press notes talk about a doomy, atmospheric edge to At the Pyres of Sin and when I get that, as on “Void” or the elegiac outro of “Where Icons Turn to Dust”, my interest is fully re-engaged. Unfortunately, those moments are too few and too backloaded on At the Pyres of Sin to really get me going.
In short, I enjoyed For the Pyres‘ music more than I enjoyed At the Pyres of Sin. The band itself has some cool ideas and solid musicianship. Frontloading the speed assault before getting into their atmospheric side does the material no favors though, and highlights how many of the songs sound like each other and many other examples of Swedeath, leading me to cool on them before the listen is done every time. That said, despite my wish it was more, I did still enjoy At the Pyres of Sin. It’s fine fodder for the modern HM-2 worshipper, and I’m excited to see where For the Pyres go with it next.
