Scrawl from The Saw’s Butcher Shop: Vomitory — All Heads Are Gonna Roll (2023) ALBUM REVIEW

/ THE SAW

Welcome to The Saw’s Butcher Shop! Your Master Butcher, The Saw, is excited to announce (if you haven’t heard) that, after 12 years, Vomitory have released a new album, All Heads Are Gonna Roll (Metal Blade Records) on May 26, 2023. When the band dropped the title track single a couple weeks ago, it was a surprise! With a long, storied career, Vomitory have been a Butcher Shop favorite. But with multiple line-up changes, an official disbanding and reforming, and Covid, it’s great that they have returned to beat us senseless once again! And what a beating the new album is!

Vomitory was formed in Forshaga, Sweden in 1989 by founders Urban Gustafsson (guitars), Ronnie Olsen (bass, vocals), and Tobias Gustafsson (drums). Bengt Sund was, soon, added on bass (Olsen focusing on vocals) and, in 1991, Ulf Dalegren (guitarist) joined the band. After a couple demos and their debut album, the member shuffle was on. By the time the band’s sophomore album dropped (the first for the U.S.), Jussi Linna was on vocals, and Erik Rundqvist was playing bass. In 2000/2001, Vomitory signed with Metal Blade records. In 2005, guitarist Dalegren left, and was replaced by Peter Ostlund. 

December 27, 2013 was the band’s last performance before officially disbanding. In 2017 Vomitory reunited for a one-off show. In 2018, they announced that the band had reformed, and celebrated Vomitory’s 30th anniversary in 2019. They returned to touring in the summer of 2022. And, of course, here we are in 2023 with a new album!

So, for All Heads Are Gonna Roll, Vomitory is:

  • Urban Gustafsson – guitars (1989 – present)
  • Tobias Gustafsson – drums (1989 – present)
  • Erik Rundqvist – bass (1997 – present) vocals (1999 – present)
  • Peter Ostlund – guitars (2005 – present)

Ya Girl has loved Vomitory ever since I first heard them back in college! And All Heads Are Gonna Roll is filled to overflowing with all the things I love about the band! Killer riffs – not just power chords, but arrangements and song structures that are unique and bad-ass! These guys have been playing together long enough now that, first, they are wicked musicians and masters of their craft and, secondly, they really complement one another on each and every song. Every track on the new album is a real beating; a clinic of sorts on how to issue a Death Metal ass-whoopin’! And the vocal delivery – brutal gutterals; distinct and concise, without relent or mercy. 

Vomitory have a sound and execution all their own. In some sense, they remind me of the “super group,” Bloodbath. But they are a super group in their own right, and really stand in a class by themselves.

Song Listing for All Heads Are Gonna Roll

  1. All Heads Are Gonna Roll
  2. Decrowned
  3. Ode to the Meat Saw
  4. The Deepest Tomb
  5. Piece by Stinking Piece
  6. Raped, Strangled, Sodomized, Dead
  7. Dead Man Stalking
  8. Disciples of the Damned
  9. Dead World
  10. Beg for Death

Vomitory Studio Release Discography:

  • Raped in Their Own Blood – Metal Blade (1996)
  • Redemption – Metal Blade (1999)
  • Revelation Nausea – Metal Blade (2001)
  • Blood Rapture – Metal Blade (2002)
  • Primal Massacre – Metal Blade (2004)
  • Terrorize Brutalize Sodomize – Metal Blade (2007)
  • Carnage Euphoria – Metal Blade (2009)
  • Opus Mortis VIII – Metal Blade (2011)
  • All Heads Are Gonna Roll – Metal Blade (2023)

Rating: 9/10! Unique riffs and song structures! Relentless, brutal gutterals!

Favorite Songs: Ode to the Meat Saw, Dead Man Stalking, Disciples of the Damned, Dead World

Stay Metal,

THE SAW