Ceremonial Oath – Carpet: CD Edition
Ceremonial Oath – Carpet
Dissonance
Release date: 23/10/26
Review by: Jon Deaux
7/10
Ceremonial Oath gathered the Justice League of Swedish death metal and then let all of them become someone else’s heroes. They did not break up, but were abandoned by their own future.
There should be no such thing as this CD version of Carpet. There should also be no such thing as some regrettable hairstyle that got photographed in 1994 and which your mother insists on keeping. Two demos and a few covers, taped together to be sold to you as a “reissue” in order to give you a “re-issue.” Well then, if that is the case, I will play the game. Someone has to.
This band created the Avengers of Swedish death metal and then let all of them walk out the door to become someone else’s heroes. Anders Friden decides to quit and lead the band In Flames. Jesper Stromblad decides to form another In Flames, as if it was something obvious, revealing the whole idea of how replaceable these guys thought everyone around them was. Oscar Dronjak left and formed the band Hammerfall, whose sole aesthetic can be expressed in the phrase “what if Dungeons and Dragons had merchandise”. Anders Iwers decided to play bass for Tiamat and Cemetery, two bands with names designed to make you pass through the security at Stockholm Arlanda. Ceremonial Oath broke up? Not really. This band has simply oozed out through the cracks into the discography of other bands. What remains? A skeleton, but with great bone structure.
Friden sings on ‘The Day I Buried,’ ‘Dreamsong,’ and ‘Carpet,’ with an impressive guitar sound, resembling the noise made by the wood chipper in the middle of the cycle, which I meant to say as a compliment. Tomas Lindberg takes charge of singing on ‘The Shadowed End,’ ‘One of Us / Nightshade,’ and ‘Immortalized,’ giving the whole album a more cold and calculated touch since Lindberg has never uttered a syllable which did not seem to be a personal threat sent to your home address.
“Hallowed Be Thy Name” is included because no metal band back then could afford itself without a proper Iron Maiden cover – it must have been mandatory in Sweden then, and indeed, yes, it’s Maiden; it withstands anything, from a nuclear winter to a junior high recorder orchestra. The Metallica cover, “Disposable Heroes,” is an attempt of kids playing the band that is going to be soon the only real competition for everyone. Various leftover songs from the W.A.R. Volume 1 make a final statement made by somebody and forgotten by all.
This is not a record. This is a crime scene in which the interviews with Iwers and Nordberg are the investigators pointing you to where Anders Iwers is the architect of Hammerfall. It is poorly executed; there is something wrong with the mixing (some sort of recording during the hailstorm via a mailbox), but still it is more menacing and full of life.
TRACKLISTING:
01. The Day I Buried
02. Dreamsong
03. Carpet
04. The Shadowed End
05. One of Us / Nightshade
06. Immortalized
07. Hallowed Be Thy Name*
08. Disposable Heroes**
09. New Sun***
10. The Shadowed End***
* Iron Maiden cover
** Metallica cover
*** ‘W.A.R. Volume 1’ compilation tracks
LINKS:
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