Want some old school dark death metal? Step right up and have a large slice of this, the fourth album / collaboration between bassist & vocalist Paul Speckmann (Master) and guitarist Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Down Among The Dead Men….pretty much every band).
“From The Mouth Of Madness” follows neatly on from 2016s “Edge Of The Abyss” (which I also had the pleasure of writing about). The chaps are joined once more by drummer Brynjar Helgetun, who also took care of the mix and mastering, and lead guitarist Kjetil Lynghaug.
Kicking off with “The Demons Night”, Rogga’s nasty thrashing riffs are bawled over by Speckmann’s unmistakable vocals (I’ll say it again…..he sounds like a tramp that’s had a dozen pints of Old Rosie and has just been woken up by being tipped off a park bench by some chavvy kids) “Is This Just Virtual” has a real hard rock feel to the song and is super catchy, almost singalongaspeckmann.
Most of the tracks here are a wonderful mix of modern Master and the Swedish death metal that Rogga does so effortlessly and I reckon this project is quite cathartic for the pair of them, freeing the guys up from any expectations beyond producing a quality metal album which they most certainly have.
The majority of the nine tracks are broody but aggressive mid paced numbers, “Heathen Of The Night” then bursts forth and is a total blast of “Hell Awaits” era Slayer as is “Fallen Angel” . Closing appropriately with “Kill And Kill”, a murderous rampage of a song with some killer solos and where Speckmann sounds utterly deranged….almost Reifert like.
You will be hitting “play” again straightaway due to the quality of classic death metal that has just gone through your lug’oles and to be fair, with a combined experience of 50 odd years between them we shouldn’t be expecting anything else really.
(8/10 Mark Eve)
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