| Forged amid the grubby depths of the Swedish death metal scene, TRIBULATION have always been the shadowy outlaws of the underground – and with Hamartia, they’re poised to begin a new chapter in their sinister story.
The group’s songwriting powers have undergone a vigorous rejuvenation; new guitarist Joseph Tholl replaced the departing Jonathan Hultén, which in turn led to the creation of an EP’s worth of material. Recorded in Stockholm with Robert Pehrsson at Studio Humbucker as well as Linus Björklund at Studio Ryssviken, before being crafted in mix by Tom Dalgety in the UK and then returning to Stockholm for mastering by Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios, Hamartia is a riotous encapsulation of everything that diehard fans demand from the Swedish crew – but, sharper, darker and laced with venom. These four new songs showcase a band in a robust state of health.
“The plan going forward is that Joseph and I will split the writing duties, just as me and Jonathan did before,” says guitarist Adam Zaars. “The other difference this time is that we did work a bit closer with each other on these songs. On the last couple of albums, we’ve basically written our material separately. This time, even though Joseph wrote ‘Axis Mundi’ and I wrote the other two songs, I still went to Stockholm every other weekend for the entire Spring leading up to the recording, and we sat together and tried different things out. We’ve worked closer this time than we’ve done at least since The Children of The Night. Comparing it to the last album, I’d say the new songs are a bit more cynical, harsher in a way.”
Additionally, Zaars is already considering TRIBULATION‘s next move. “Fairly soon, I hope we can record something – an album before anything else,” he concludes. “In some ways, I’ve already started writing, but I don’t have a complete song to show anyone yet. I’ve got a lot of material, so we just need time to piece it all together… We did a tour with Watain, Abbath and Bölzer last year and that was great, and this year we’re going to focus on festivals…and writing new material!” |
