Artist: Internal Decay
Country: Sweden
Label: Hammerheart Records
Formats: 12″ EP / CD EP
Year: 2026
Internal Decay released a demo tape in 1991 and finally their debut album in 1993, right before they threw in the towel. Regardless of the quality of their material, and the ‘A Forgotten Dream’-album in particular, it is safe to say that the band came late to the party. By the time their album was released, there was hardly anyone interested in Death Metal anymore: Black Metal was the new extreme. So Internal Decay was destined to go down in history as a lost band that had clearly fallen by the wayside.
On the other hand, however, it was no real surprise that VIC Records decided to give ‘A Forgotten Dream’ a second chance through a release on both vinyl and CD. After all, almost everything that was ever recorded by whatever band is getting reissued and VIC Records has basically become nothing more than a reissue machine. But, for a change, this reissue is definitely worth it.
However, what did come as a surprise was that the band had also decided to reform. Apparently that happened already back in 2023, but that slipped my attention. Whether or not that was triggered by VIC Record’s efforts to get their 1993-alum reissued or not, I don’t know but two original members of the band felt it was time to take care of some unfinished business. Micke Vega (also in A Canorous Quintet) and Kim Blomkvist (also ex-Epitaph and ex-Therion) are back from the original line-up and have been joined by three new musicians.
The result is a surprisingly authentic take on that mid-90s Death Metal creativity. That time when Death Metal was on the decline, the genre evolved into something that was more than brutality and utter savage riffage. In fact, ‘A Forgotten Dream’ was already a great starting point for that, with a sound that was rather melodic and doomy and even had a slight Black Metal edge to it, not too much unlike early Katatonia or the first Godgory album. I would even like to go as far as saying that if ‘Fires Of The Forgotten’ was released in, say, 1996, it is quite possible that Internal Decay would have fallen on very fertile ground. The 90s as a whole, with the exception of die-hard Black Metal fanatics, were fairly open-minded, and bands such as Tiamat, Moonspell, Rotting Christ, Sentenced, Anathema, Therion and The Gathering opened the door to other genres and influences.
‘Fires Of The Forgotten’, as the title suggests, harks back to those vibrant days when genres merged so seamlessly, something that they might have played a very modest role in themselves. The three tracks of this new EP, released on both vinyl and CD by Hammerheart Records, do have a similar sound and feel and blend in traditional Death Metal, Heavy Metal, Doom Metal and a whiff of Black Metal as well. Consequently, purists are better off checking something else, but for those who cherish fond memories of those halcyon days and the seminal, transitional albums from the mid-to-late 90s, this is sure to be a real treat.
It is certainly appropriate to express some words of appreciation for a comeback like this, as the majority of bands returning after such a long hiatus don’t achieve much anymore and are generally unable to capture the spirit of bygone days. Now, of course, this is still just an EP with a running time of just over 15 minutes, but it is, in any case, already much more than I honestly expected.
