When is a supergroup not a supergroup? I would say when it has anything to do with extreme metal. Those guys just not keep it in their pants when it comes to musical monogamy. They leap into bands like the baddie in It Follows.

Berzerker Legion is a case in point. This multi-national Death Metal project has been around since 2016 and Chaos Will Reign is their second full length release following on from 2020’s Obliterate the Week.

So who makes up this grizzled group of metal maniacs? The guitarists :- Hypocrisy’s Tomas Eloffson and Asphyx’s Alwin Zuur  kick started the project and now have Vader’s James Stweart on drums and Fredrik  Izaksson on the low end. Providing the voice is none other than man of many many bands including Wombbath Jonny Pettersson. This is a group of fellas with a hell of a lot of experience and a lot of tour miles under their bullet belts.

Sonically what they create is maybe not as interesting as it could or should be from their collective resume’ – it is melo death with a hefty nod to Amon Amarth and of course Hypocrisy and as such feels very much stuck in the early noughties.

Now, that is not to say that is an issue for fans. Berzerker Legion has all the hallmarks of the biggies of Melodeath – big choruses, catchy riffs and tight as a gnat’s chuff drumming. The opening title track is a strong start rushing out of the blocks with a tight and fast gallop before dropping into a beefy chug.  This album very much reminds me of the Versus the World album by Amon Amarth – War Chant sounds like it could be lifted off that very album with its chunky grooves.  That is the last album that I really enjoyed by AA so I am partially satiated by Chaos Will Reign.

Although I find myself nodding along to the eleven tracks on offer I do not feel much in the way of excitement. It is technically well done, each track is executed well and has all the right composite parts. There is just something missing. Now that is likely not the fault of the band – rather the issue of the reviewer. I am seeking something that may be there for some but is just not evident for me. A magical spark that will raise this from a good album to a great one and will make me revisit it more often.

There are some absolute ragers on here though – “Nihilism Over Empathy” has a blistering pace that feels like being swung around by the nipples and lashed to a waltzer after downing three sherbert dipdabs. Complete fizzy headbanging overload. It had me reeling a little afterwards but no spewing!

These folks show they can do slow and moody too with the plod and roll of “This Is the End” Pettersson’s ravaged rasp at the end of each chorus line (the sung stanza I don’t mean he is dancing on Broadway) sounds as though he is in his death throes.

I don’t know if I have been battered into submission by this Berzerker Legion but towards the latter part of the album I am being swayed by their cacophony. “Towards Oblivion” is a tad messy but its meaty riffs are a simple bludgeoning affair which get me doing a metal gurn  whilst “Warchant” unleashes a barrage of drums and crashing cymbals underpinned by a chanted backing which made my old ears prick up. In fact this bloody song has taken up a residency in my head so I had to give it a third listen – so much for not revisiting this album much eh?

Once the Van Halen style drums start up for the final track “Worship All that is Dead” my opinions are swaying about like I used to in my drinking days. It’s another track with all the hallmarks of the early 2000’s – hints of Clayman era In Flames etc.  The issue I am finding with this album is that it is making me nostalgic but also making me more likely to revisit the old classics of the genre rather than want to keep hitting repeat. As you can see from the fact that a few of the tracks have had me doing just that, this album has me conflicted which has got to be a good thing.

It is a good melodic death metal album. It has all the right bits in all the right places but I just don’t get the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.

It’s not you. It’s me.

(7/10 Matt Mason) 

https://www.facebook.com/berzerkerlegion

https://listenable-records.bandcamp.com/album/obliterate-the-weak