UMUR
"Wanderland" is a demo release by Swedish death metal act Afflicted. The demo was independently released on cassette tape in November 1991. Afflicted was an important band in the Swedish underground extreme metal scene of the late 80s/early 90s. First working under the Afflicted Convulsion before dropping the Convulsion part of the name in 1990 and onwards solely working under the Afflicted name. They released several demo tapes under both monickers and "Wanderland" ended up being their final demo before being signed by Nuclear Blast Records for the release of their debut full-length studio album "Prodigal Sun" from December 1992. All 4 tracks from the 21:16 minutes long demo would be re-recorded and included on "Prodigal Sun" (1992).
"Wanderland" is the first release by the band featuring what I would characterize as a professional sounding production job (recorded at Sunlight Studio in November 1991 with producer Tomas Skogsberg). In fact the sound production is very well sounding considering that "Wanderland" is a demo recording. While every release leading up to this one features some interesting elements or signs of progression, "Wanderland" is also the first release by Afflicted to be a through and through high quality release.
The musicianship is strong and the band pull off playing some relatively fast-paced and technical deathgrind parts with conviction (as well as more regular death metal parts). The lead guitar work and the many unconventional riffs deserve a mention too. The intelligible growling vocals of Joakim Bröms are placed high in the mix...and when you have such a powerful and articulate growler in front, that´s exactly where you want to place him. The vocals are absolutely amazing...
...another asset of the band´s music is the songwriting, which is adventurous, powerful, and progressive in nature. This is very unconventional sounding death metal/deathgrind considering that Afflicted are an early 90s Swedish death metal act. It´s only the drum sound which point in that direction, because there aren´t many elements of the music that you can point at and say that they sound like other contemporary Swedish artists recording their music at Sunlight Studio with producer Tomas Skogsberg.
I´ve seldom come across a more interesting death metal demo than "Wanderland", which to my ears is a very unique release, featuring strong musicianship, intriguing and effectful songwriting, and a brilliant and powerful sounding production job. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.