EP Review: Quindecennial Horror by Puteraeon (Emanzipation Productions)

Swedish horror death metal stalwarts Puteraeon celebrate their 15 year anniversary with Quindecennial Horror, a rerecording of some tracks from their demos and debut.

Quindecennial Horror is due for release on the 8th of March via Emanzipation Productions. Puteraeon have chosen to re-record five songs, most from early demos as well as Storm Over Devil’s Reef, the opening track from their full length debut, The Esoteric Order. Celebrating 15 years as a band is an impressive feat, even more so when you understand that Puteraeon never take their foot off the gas, and also never really explore new ideas or musical paths.

Puteraeon are a band as committed to their Lovecraft-inspired, intensely aggressive death metal approach as they have ever been. This dedication and commitment to their Chtulhian terror music has earned them massive respect within the metal community so this look back at where it all started is a really exciting idea and way to celebrate their anniversary.

Puteraeon are Daniel Vandija on bass, Anders Malmström on drums, Jonas Lindblood on guitars and vocals and Rune Foss on guitars. Quindecennial Horror was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö of Bloodbath and Edge Of Sanity fame.

With 5 tracks and around 20 minutes of metal to get stuck in to, things get under way with The Plague. We get exactly what you would expect from a band playing horror inspired death metal. It’s heavy, it’s harsh and it’s intense. Perhaps due to the songs being rerecordings, or maybe just because of the style, but it is also very raw sounding, very loose and chaotic. The vocals are rasping and aggressive, the drums are frantic and the riffs are crunchy. Music to mosh to is the order of the day and that is what Puteraeon deliver here.

Whispers of the Dead features no whispering but plenty of shouting and continues on that loose and heavy death metal attack we started with. Some of the passages here get really frenetic, really hard and blistering in their relentlessness but, we also get a ton more catchiness here than in the opener. A couple blasts of lead guitar adds value and there are plenty of catchy drum beats and riffs to go along with the overall anarchy gifted to us on Quindecennial Horror. It’s very easy to listen to, has a sense of familiarity to it in that at it’s core, this is just a banging blast of intense death metal and who doesn’t love that?

Graverobber ups the ante on catchiness with a wicked intro of crunchy riffs and drums beats and a little bookened of lead guitar work.

If your head isn’t banging by the time the intro transforms into the verse, you may be broken. The verses are vicious, the vocals in partiuclar really going for it with sinister rasping shouts and growls but as the song switches between that style and back to the intro catchiness, then back and forth, you have to admire the intelligent song structure and writing as well. Within all of this chaos, there are marks of genius that may be missed if you just take the death metal at face value. Look deeper, this is clever stuff, in terms of musicality and flow.

Dead Once More, no surprises for guessing this, but it’s another blasting death metal track with insane drumming that has quite an organic and loose feel to it. Some of the catchiness of Graverobber has been dropped here and replaced with a whirlwind of fire and fury but also we get a lot more intensity and melody from the lead guitars with some really catchy and intriguing sections played out. We close out Quindecennial Horror with Storms Over Devil’s Reef where we get another track of intense and aggressive death metal.

The vocals are harsh, the music, harsher still, as we just take punch after punch from the drums, the riffs, all of it. Little tempo changes and switches in the drums offer moments of groove and are certain to get your head banging. These moments are often dangerous too as they are used as a precursor for even heavier sections to folllow on from. Some more great lead guitar work fattens out the track before it comes to a close and finally gives us time to catch our breath.

Puteraeon don’t mess about and if you are already a fan, you may already know these songs but will still get great enjoyment from checking them out agin in their rerecorded form. If you don’t know the band, or songs, you are in for a treat listening to Quindecennial Horror with 20 minutes of crushing and intense death metal that takes no prisoners, holds nothing back and will leave you smiling, if not also a a little battered and bruised.

Presave Quindecennial Horror by Puteraeon to your chosen streaming platform at this link.

Puteraeon Links

Website – Facebook – Instagram – X – YouTube – Spotify – Tidal – Emanzipation Productions