(written by Islander)
I suppose I should make one thing clear right up front: The song we’re about to premiere is from a forthcoming album by the Swedish death metal band Harrowed, not the British metallic hardcore band Harrowed about whom our Andy Synn has sung praises here a couple times in the past.
The Harrowed that’s our focus today has an enticing pedigree, featuring as it does guitarist Tobias Alpadie, who has spent time in VAK and previously as a member of Tribulation’s live lineup (among other things), and vocalist/drummer Adam Lindmark, a member of Morbus Chron before their dissolution. Harrowed’s live lineup now also includes bassist Dag Landin (ex-Morbus Chron, Tøronto) and guitarist Estefan Carrillo (Hazemaze, Morbid Breath).
What’s coming our way in February is Harrowed’s debut album The Eternal Hunger, previewed on behalf of their label (Dying Victims Productions) as “a twisted mass of putrid filth, incorporating elements of old-school American and Scandinavian death metal, a lethal dose of punk riffage, and mind-bending weirdness (and even some shattered shards of skewed melody, if we’re counting).” That’s enticing too, isn’t it?
Only in the worlds of extreme metal (or at least some of them) are descriptors like “maggot-ridden”, “sewer-dwelling”, and “putrid” likely to cause anticipatory salivation among listeners (or at least some of them). Those descriptors do apply to the death metal of Harrowed, or at least some aspects of it, but as you’ll discover from the song “Blood Covenant“, and as foretold in the preceding paragraph’s quotation, they don’t completely sum up the band’s songwriting proclivities — including their ability to stick in big hooks that will catch in your gills and cut them up.
Launched by a wild howl, the song immediately charges ahead on the back of hammering beats and dirty riffing that’s as wild as that howl. The guitars generate both gritty, rapidly scissoring viciousness and maniacal pulses that ecstatically blare and vividly swirl. Malicious snarls and rabid cries, both with a serrated edge, bark the words as the riffing continues blurting and feverishly squirming.
All of that will give you a solid jolt of adrenaline and maybe some crazed smiles, and the song might have continued that way without any complaint, but these fiends have some surprises in store. They quickly quell the mayhem and let brittle and brilliant notes ring out a sinister melodic interlude, joined by big rumbling drums, and then they launch a dense, dismal, and reptilian churn as the drumming chops at listeners’ necks.
The riffing slithers and swirls while someone tries to strangle the vocalist as he cries out, and thus the music creates visions of unearthly menace and aromas of morbid stench. And then comes another surprise, a guitar solo — clear and piercing in tone — that’s a fleet-fingered manifestation of ecstasy, an eye-opener that paves the way toward a raucous and revelrous reprise of the song’s opening movement.
And with that, we welcome you to our first music premiere of 2026, with thanks to Harrowed for getting us off to such a good, pulse-punching start.
The Eternal Hunger was produced by Robert Pehrsson (Death Breath, ex-Runemagick) in his Studio Humbucker. It also includes guest appearances by Nicke Andersson (Entombed, Death Breath) and Scott Carlson (Repulsion, Death Breath), among others.
Dying Victims will release the album on February 27th, on CD and vinyl LP formats. Find more info via the links below, and then also lend your ears to the album’s first single, “The Cold of a Thousand Snows“. Beware: like today’s premiere song, it’s loaded with hooks too. And it will lead you through lots of twists and turns, with surprises of its own (which we won’t spoil).
P.S. Earlier today we began rolling out our list of 2025’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. The two songs embedded in this post have already landed on the list of candidates for the 2026 edition of that list.
PRE-ORDER:
https://tinyurl.com/eternalhunger
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-eternal-hunger
HARROWED:
https://www.facebook.com/harroweddeathmetal
https://www.instagram.com/harroweddeathmetal