Originally written for Destructive Music.
Sparzanza is a Swedish heavy rock band that some people keep labeling as stoner rock. True,that’s how they sounded when they released “Angels Of Vengeance”, but guys, it’s been more than ten years since that. They still use some mid-tempo and strong bass lines, but trust me – the rock these guys play is much harder & heavier to be considered stoner. And it has been already since the second album “Into The Sewers”, which was released in 2003. So please keep up to speed, ladies and gentlemen.
The first track of this new “Death Is Certain, Life Is Not” couldn’t prove my statement better. A fierce attack on the drums followed suit by the low-tuned cranking of the guitars and “When The World Is Gone” shows you what heavy rock is all about. Then it gets more melodic and easy-going in the chorus, but the rhythm never slows down or loses its heaviness.
“The Fallen Ones” was the song chosen to promote the album, a video having been released on YouTube a couple of months before the album. The formula is more or less the same as the one in “When The World Is Gone”, but the chorus is catchier, while the rest of the song shows us a Fredrik Weileby singing in a somewhat angrier tone. And the main riff is also stronger, in that way that sounds heavier but sticks more immediately into your brain.
Then a bit of darkness is added in songs like “Dead Inside”, “Endeavor The Dark” or the title-track, and I don’t mean just the lyrical theme. The music itself rolls into another level of depth.
More than just “dark”, “Legion” is both creepy and loose. Weird choice of words, I know, but listen to it and see if you don’t get an ominous feeling from those chords, even when they’re played in a flowing rock mode. Plus, the parts where the music becomes just background noise punctuated by choral chants and Weileby seems to be reciting a prophecy, that IS creepy. Which doesn’t mean it isn’t good. And that choral experience gains more body in “Ad Viventes”, as well as Johan Carlsson’s bass, and results in a pretty heavy piece.
All of the above to say that if you’re into this groovy kind of rock, you should check “Death Is Certain…” out.
Label: Spinefarm Records
Producer: Rikard Löfgren
Tracklist:
- When The World Is Gone
- The Fallen Ones
- Dead Inside
- Endeavor The Dark
- Legion
- I Am Your God
- Walk Into The Fire
- The Enemy
- Death Is Certain, Life Is Not
- Ad Viventes
- When Death Comes
Front Row Forever 