Pan.Thy.Monium: The Strange, Strange Case Of (Part 1)

[originally appeared in the old THC Zine website 2018; by: VVV]
{vinyl record photos courtesy of Rx Zenabi, 2025}

Avant garde and experimental death metal in the 90s was more organic and bizarre sounding, different from the more progressive, brutal, technical slant of the later eras. But then, the extreme metal scene was still in its early phases, when bands were treading new, unchartered territory. The whole dictionary definition of these words in the extreme metal categories were not yet clearly defined.

To be honest, one cannot simply pigeonhole the earlier avant garde/experimental/prog death metal bands with these definitions and tags. The sound is often just totally bewildering, with crazed experimentation, and unusual musical (and non musical) elements, all filtered through the extreme early 90s death metal sound, replete with that era’s sound engineering and production. It yielded unique, interesting, yet timeless results.

So what is exactly is (a) Pan.Thy.Monium, one asks? The name’s origin wasn’t exactly explained by band leader Day DiSyraah, AKA Dan Swano, the musical genius behind other more well known entities and a top session player in the Swedish OSDM ranks of such killer bands as Edge of Sanity, Incision, Nightingale, Bloodbath, Katatonia, et al, and of course, Unisound Studios. We can however assume that it is a mutated and spaced out version of the word Pandemonium, which means manic chaos, or something like this.

With the exception of a demo, a string of compilation appearances, and an EP (“Dream II”), Pan.Thy.Monium created three epic albums that formed a trilogy, after which, Swano disbanded the band for good, having already created a perfect trifecta magnum opus of work.

Pan.Thy.Monium didn’t sound anything like any of his bands, including the session work he did. Idiosyncratic low tuned OSDM with heavy progressive and twisted classic rock influences, doom, and stoner, blended with brutal riffs, and then dispirited with cellos, synths, and saxophones, and with weird-ass arrangements with a slight free jazz bent, all seemingly holding on together with some sort of strange spiritual glue.

Dawn Of Dreams
Osmose Productions, 1992

Created and released in 1992, the debut wreck-ord that started the band’s foray into weird realms of demented prog and avant garde death was already advanced and way ahead of time than most of the more adventurous experimental death metal groups from that early era. That said, this was just the starting point of the band, and was just a sample of strange, ultra-low tuned, death metal on acid and weird time changes type of songwriting and structuring to manifest in earthly form later.

Basing from the strength and success of their debut demo, “…Dawn” and subsequent EP “Dream II”, Osmose signed the band and commissioned their first full length. It also helped that they somehow knew it was Swano from the legendary Edge Of Sanity at the helm, as well.

Recorded on 8-track reel to reel and mastered to DAT, Dan Swano and the gang utilized their way at the now infamous Unisound Studios to capture the elevated madness and vision, without compromising most of their brutality. Their goal was still to play killer death but having it mutate and add seemingly lysergic touches into the songwriting and sound manipulations.

Blank/missing song titles, no band member names, and no other information was made available on CD booklets, as the band wholly intended it, and suprisingly, their label agreed to the crazy vision. In the reissue vinyl LP however, Swano included the actual titles, having found the original titles from recording notes kept in his possession for many years.

And yeah, speaking of elevated, he took the cover photo of this album when he was on a plane bound for Denmark. It’s this otherwordly vibe that perfectly captures the feel of the album, without revealing anything obvious.

With Swano at the helm and majority of the songwriting, he also served as studio conductor. Knowing the strengths of his bandmates, he directed many of the layers and parts, such as bizarre guitar runs and solos here and there, and cello and saxophone interludes with ultra low gurgling vocals, high screeching screams, and sound effects, including his mother’s egg clock at the beginning of the album. Then, synthesizer washes and parts were written into the framework, adding a weird atmosphere. But it all worked in the out-there land of Pan.Thy.Monium. Death with liberal amounts of doom, some slight stoner metal riffs here and there, plus A to B brutality and delicate psyche-outs, it proved to be an instant classick.

Seven (previously) untitled (!) tunes created and designed to confuse but engage the adventurous listener… PTM succeeded in bringing their strange, strange first trip to the world of death metal in ’92. No one was prepared for the succeeding headtrips that would ensue…

Khaooohs
Osmose Productions, 1993

A year later, PTM returned with their sophomore album, an even more realized vision of impressive and still proggish weird death that boasted more of their advanced chops and demented songwriting in Khaooos. With even more bizarre and odd-timed twists and turns, the avant garde is more integrated into the Swedish Death Metal stew, but was far and above (and far away, space-away) different from their peers. No one still sounded like them in ’93, and no one can pull off this kind of mindF’ry and trickery like the otherwordly entities in this recorded time capsule either.

The mindF abstract lysergic mind and reality meltdown painting by renowned Swedish artist Fritz Quasthoff, plus the eerie and mysterious spectre band photos are the perfect visual accompaniment to this record.

Some of the avant garde instrumentation such as saxes and cellos are fewer in between here. They are more like an accentuation than the more saturated use in the previous LP. However, there is a more focused approach on heavier riffs and mindmelting solos with clean psychedelic passages and occasional dark atmospheres in between, in exchange, while still remaining lysergic and brutal at the same time.

The odd combination of forward thinking and abstract, oldschool brutality, with roto-rootered grgrrrgroughgruuugh style vocals and intense screams atop the marred, mangled riffing with oddtime heaviness was still ahead of its time. It’s intriguing, esoteric, and powerful all at once. The slower, more chilling doom death sections with synths progress well into the parts with slight melodicism, but borrowed from classic rock melodic riffs instead of the Swedish trademark melo-death style. The solos are slightly bluesy, with classic rock and psycherock lead styles proving themselves compatible, while still standing out.

Things get even weirder and punishing on the brain as the album progresses to the end, as tracks such as the fake “live”, “Khaooos I” complete with stage banter and crowd cheers. That slight surprise doesn’t take away from the intensity of the album. The weird oddtime bizarro vocal delivery and slight “sludgy death” feel of the track with stoned psyche fusion parts, and its weird changes makes for one hell of closing statement.

It’s followed by the strange space detour dilemma of “Utsikt”, something which latter era-Beherit will appreciate if they got stoned with the band, and then it’s closed off with the brutal, sludgy death doom avante garde experimental finale of “Khaooos II” with tasty keyboard synths and a somewhat melodic stoner groove at the end. It alternates with the final stretch of blasting brutality and crazed screaming with an epilogue of sorts of female Swedish spoken word crescendoing to doomed forlorn regions of the unknown. Yes what a strange trip it’s been.

No one, we mean, no one can and will even attempt this kind of totally crazed but controlled chaos prog/avant garde brutality and charred songwriting in ’93, and then make it work in superb fashion. KHAOOOS f’n indeed.