Aeon

You'd never guess it from the excellent production values, but this 21-minute disc from Swedish Satanists Aeon is actually a re-release of the band's demo from last year. The songs betray the demo aspect as well - all six of them being totally well written technical death metal nuggets. Morbid Angel is the key reference point, but judging from the sound on the last Morbid Angel album, that band has been taken over by computers, so it looks like Aeon wins by default. The band can glide from blast-beating insanity to sludgy, slow-motion death metal without breaking a sweat, all the while keeping it in good taste. Most of the riffs feel a bit recycled, but give Aeon time and they could easily be the kings of modern day death metal. Any fan of intense, guttural technical death should be anxiously awaiting Aeon's full-length.