Tuesday 13 June 2017

ALBUM REVIEW: Paganizer - "Land of Weeping Souls"

By: Richard Maw


Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 05/08/2017
Label: Transcending Obscurity



Rogga Johansson shows no sign of letting up at all; another album, another line up, another master class in Swedish death metal. This is absolutely business as usual for Paganizer, possibly the finest and purest exponents of this type of metal around. Highly recommended.


Land of Weeping Souls” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Your Suffering Will Be Legendary
2). Dehumanized
3). Forlorn Dreams
4). Land of Weeping Souls
5). The Insanity Never Stops
6). Selfdestructor
7). Death Addicts Posthumous
8). The Buried Undead
9). Soulless Feeding Machine
10). Prey to Death

The Review:

Paganizer return with this first full length since 2013. This pleases me immensely, as they have been consistent purveyors of the finest Swedish Death Metal for close to twenty years. This record does not disappoint at all. After the exhaustively excellent “Twenty Years In A Terminal Grip” best of and the superb “On The Outskirts of Hades” EP, I thought the band were going to deliver.

Sure enough, they have. Impressively. You get rolling blasts, thrash pacing, chainsaw riffing and reassuringly deathly vocals, and all that in opener “Your Suffering Will Be Legendary”! The band don't put a foot wrong over the course of these ten tracks; “Dehumanized” is as dark as it is pacey, rolling bass drums are a feature of “Forlorn Dreams”, the lead work is fantastic throughout, the sound is great and vicious.

Truly, Paganizer are still at the top of their game and are as devastating as ever. What shines through on the album is the song writing. Paganizer know how to write great death metal and also to make some oddly catchy hooks here and there, to go with surprisingly catchy riffs. The title track is an effective demonstration of the band's power, while “The Insanity Never Sleeps” has got everything any fan of real Swe-death could want- including the sound of a gun being cocked (essential to a death metal album).

The latter half of the album is just as intense and just as gnarly; “Selfdestructor” allows for a slithering opening riff before more choppy fair comes in. There is no let up through the remaining four tracks, either; “Death Addicts Posthumous” is thrashy stuff and “The Buried Undead” is very deathly indeed (kind of like Bolt Thrower, but sped up a little). “Soulless Feeding Machine” and “Prey To Death” deliver two sharp shots of death  to finish this impressive set.

Rogga Johansson shows no sign of letting up at all; another album, another line up, another master class in Swedish death metal. This is absolutely business as usual for Paganizer, possibly the finest and purest exponents of this type of metal around. Highly recommended.

Land of Weeping Souls” is available here




Band info: bandcamp || facebook

FFO: Grave, Down Among The Dead Men, Ribspreader, Entrails