Information
Artist – Lowest Creature
Album – Sacrilegious Pain
Label – Independent
Released – May 10th, 2019
Type – Full-length
Genre – Crossover/Thrash
Additional
Notes
Sacrilegious Pain is the debut full-length from Lowest Creature, released May 10, 2019 via Isolation Records — the same Berlin-based label that had put out the band's Misery Unfolds 7" the previous year. The five-piece hails from Örebro, in the Swedish flatland region of Närke, and had been active since December 2013 before arriving at this debut. The lineup on the record is Tobias Mattsson on vocals, Douglas Wentzel and Viktor Holmqvist on guitars, Philip Pilossian on bass, and Julius Bäcklund on drums. Recording and mixing took place at Ljudkross Studio in Umeå, Sweden in autumn 2018, with engineer Erik "Eken" Lindberg at the controls — the same studio and engineer the band returned to for the follow-up Witch Supreme (2023). Mastering was handled by Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust out of Oregon City, Oregon, who has brought a similar production sensibility to records by Integrity, Mammoth Grinder, and Midnight.
The album runs ten tracks across 37 minutes and 38 seconds, opening with the five-minute "Preachers Pedestal" before the title track, both of which were premiéred ahead of release — "Sacrilegious Pain" via New Noise Magazine and "Reapers Fool" as a second single via the label. The Everything Is Noise review noted that the grooved-out riffs on "Reapers Fool" carry clear echoes of Exhorder, while "Breach of Peace" leans into the kind of all-out speed frenzy associated with Kreator's mid-period work. "Let the Darkness Swallow Me Whole" layers hardcore velocity with whammy-bar lead work that nods to Slayer's "Raining Blood," and the song title itself is shouted in the vocal style of early Entombed — a deliberate death metal flourish from a band otherwise rooted further south in the genre. Midway through the record, the brief instrumental "Blodets Meridian" (2:43) — sung/titled in Swedish rather than English, like the band's own descriptor "thrashy hardcore based in the flat land of Närke" — acts as the sole exhale before the back half resumes. The Encyclopaedia Metallum review drew the closest comparison to Power Trip's Nightmare Logic, specifically flagging the title track's riff structure and Mattsson's half-scream, half-growl delivery as remarkably close to the late Riley Gale's approach on that record. Lyrical themes throughout circle a consistent worldview of societal rot, dark Nordic winters, and spiritual bankruptcy — "Preachers Pedestal," "Spiritual Hypocrisy," and "Grave Digging" all orbit hostility toward religious and political authority. The band described the record as shaped by Sweden's degraded social fabric beneath its functional exterior, with Mattsson telling Idioteq: "Reality is not a Eurovision song contest." Other touchstones cited across reviews and press include Iron Age, D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, Municipal Waste, and The Icemen.
Physically, the LP was pressed in two initial configurations: an Isolation Records exclusive of 200 copies on clear vinyl with red, black & white splatter (distributed exclusively through Evil Greed and Deathwish Inc.), plus a wider distribution/tour pressing of 300 copies, alongside a CD digipak and digital download. The LP subsequently went to at least five pressings, including a red/black pinwheel second press, an ultra clear third press, a screenprinted two-year anniversary edition (handnumbered, 98 copies), a fourth press on translucent red with heavy black splatter, and a fifth red press — indicating sustained demand well beyond the initial run. On Discogs, the CD has traded as high as $77. Across its release cycle, the album received positive coverage from Everything Is Noise, Cvlt Nation, and NoEcho, with the Metal Archives entry holding an 80% score from a single review. In support of the release, the band played Northcote Festival in the Netherlands in March 2019 alongside Brutality Will Prevail and Malevolence, followed by a three-week EU/UK run co-headlining with Leeway across Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Belgium, and the UK. The band had also previously shared stages with Power Trip, Twitching Tongues, Rival Mob, and Tragedy.
Videos
- Lowest Creature - Sacrilegious Pain (Official Audio)
- Lowest Creature - Reapers Fool (Official Audio)
- Lowest Creature - Grave Digging (Official Audio)
- Lowest Creature - Sacrilegious Pain (Full Album Stream)
Recording
Recorded and mixed at Ljudkross Studio in Umeå, Sweden in autumn 2018.
Mastered in Oregon City, Oregon, USA.
Tracklist
1. Preachers Pedestal – 05:04
2. Sacrilegious Pain – 03:53
3. Reapers Fool – 03:22
4. Breach of Peace – 04:13
5. Let the Darkness Swallow Me Whole – 04:49
6. Blodets Meridian – 02:43
7. Suffer in Peace – 03:20
8. Spiritual Hypocrisy – 03:53
9. Grave Digging – 02:13
10. Dragging This Chain – 04:08
Total length: 37:38
Lineup
Band Members
Douglas Wentzel – Guitars
Philip Pilossian – Bass
Julius Bäcklund – Drums
Viktor Holmqvist – Guitars
Tobias Mattsson – Vocals
Miscellaneous Staff
Joel Grind – Mastering
Chris – Layout


