Artist: Suicidal Winds
Country: Sweden
Label: Wolfkult Religion
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
If you’re a fan of Suicidal Winds you must have some patience. Sure, the band’s early years were relatively prolific, racking up four demos, four full-lengths and a whole bunch of Splits and EPs from their inception in 1992 to 2010 or so. But the gap between albums grew, and it would take seven years for ‘Chthonian Sun’, the band’s fifth full-length, to be unveiled in 2014. In hindsight, those seven years weren’t all too bad, as the band’s production truly plummeted afterwards. A drought that lasted until 2025, marking a period that was marred with tragedy with the passing of the long-serving bass player Fredrik Andersson in 2023. The band wasn’t entirely inactive in the last decade however, as they had already recorded album number six before Fredrik’s passing. Therefore ‘In the Fire 666’ is just as much a memorial to Fredrik, as it is a return of Suicidal Winds.
And the band has come back in a fashion that truly fits the Swedes: 100% as themselves, without frills and pretense, and without any major shift in musical focus and determination. Suicidal Winds have always embraced the Blackened Thrash sound, and that hasn’t changed at all on the latest record. Fierce is the right way to describe them, with sharply biting vocals. There is a tinge of Heavy Metal in some of the riffs, like a Mercyful Fate type vibe in ‘Demonic Spirits’ or a bit of a Black Sabbath bassline in ‘Eternal Death Awaits’ but it’s violent Thrash Metal with a Black Metal edge that runs through the DNA of the band as few others. There is an honesty in the band’s sound, not hiding behind too much distortion and laying all the elements bare for everyone to judge: the rumbling bass, the snappy drums, the chopping guitar parts and the rabid vocals are accompanied by melodic leads, courtesy of Protector’s Michael Carlsson. Three to four minutes per track, played with pace and intensity, yet there is a sense of emotion in the melodic leads. Especially in ‘In the Fire’, it feels like Fredrik’s spirit lingers in the lead, one final goodbye to a dear friend.
Suicidal Winds embrace an honest sound, putting everything they have on the table. While others in the Black / Thrash Metal genre have moved on, Suicidal Winds has kept their steady course, embracing the aggressive yet melodic sound since their very beginning. Bareboned and in your face, ‘In the Fire 666’ is the result of that genuine spirit and that stoic determination. Not only will this make the fans of the band happy, but it would also have made their dearly departed friend proud.
