Paganizer - Land Of Weeping Souls (EN)

I can absolutely understand that there will be some listeners, who call of and murmur "not again" when they hear the name Roger Johansson. After all, Metal Archives lists 34 (!) bands in which he had worked or is still working. That is really something. However, I always liked the band Paganizer, which was founded in 1998, and which is to be discussed here. And they deliver their 10th studio album already. The remaining albums can be found in the above mentioned Metal Archives, if you want to read about them.

And folks, I really like to speak about this one, since it really is such a pure-blooded Death Metal album. This is something you really hear seldomly nowadays. It is composed strictly according to the purity requirement and clubs everything to the ground. In the first line the Swedish Death is prominent here, like in the form of Dismember, Entombed (first two albums) etc.

This means: Brutal riffs with a slight melody part, a mostly extremely fast and forward rushing drumming, growling but well audible bass and a voice which growls aggressively but understandable. There is no frippery here, each song hammers through the auditory canal and lets the neck muscles rotate neatly. However, the whole thing is sometimes decorated with an air protection siren like in "The Insanity Never Stops". This turns out really cool. "Selfdestructor" is, let's call it, a "pause". It's not that fast but really mean and serves as a needed breather for the rest of the album.
In "The Buried Undead" they head even more in the direction of dragging autopsy, which is also pretty cool. Apart from that there are well-arranged, fast-paced and on point Death Metal attacks, which are simlpy fun for everyone who likes pure Death Metal.

The production is pleasantly authentic and shows off all the instruments perfectly (especially the awesomely creaking bass).

Conclusion:
I hadn't expected this niveau of Rogga (you can't really write "band" here), but Paganizer really deliver a great old-school album. Despite all the understanding for development and especially with the many good bands, that combine different styles, this is how DEATH METAL has to sound!!!

Rating: 8,5/10

Recommendations: Land Of Weeping Souls, The Buried Undead