A winning double for Leper Colony.
Two years ago, Marc Grewe (vocals, Insidious Disease, ex-Morgoth) and Rogga Johansson (guitar/bass, Paganizer, Echelon, Putrevore, Revolting, ex-Massacre…) released their debut album with two other musicians. This year, it’s with Jon Rudin (drums, Dead Sun, Heads for the Dead, Just Before Dawn, ex-Massacre, ex-Wombbath…) and Håkan Stuvemark (guitar, Consumption, Wombbath, Ghoulhouse, ex-In Thy Dreams…) that the band announces the release of Those Of The Morbid via Testimony Records.
The abrasive Old School mix blows up in our faces from the very first notes of Facing The Faceless, the first composition where aggression reigns supreme, between supercharged riffs and raw vocal parts. The recognizable touch of the Grewe/Johansson duo wreaks havoc, as on Master’s Voice where the leads adopt ominous tones to go hand in hand with the ambient violence, but the solo returns effortlessly to softer melodies. This is followed by The Age Of Insanity, with its catchy roots, notably on the energetic break that kick-starts the composition, and the few seconds of melancholy in the introductory harmonics of Flesh To Rot To Ashes, which quickly fade away to make way for one of the wildest rhythms, barely calmer on the choruses and solo. Realm Of Madness easily carries us along in its jerky flow, but the track is a little short, quickly giving way to the ominous tones of Those Of The Morbid Inclination, which takes advantage of sometimes rather dark harmonics to complement a fairly groovy rhythm. Apocalypse Whore in turn attacks with a chaotic solo, but the rest of the composition soon arrives to hit us before once again calling upon mysterious tones on Creature From The Deep, linking its brutality to the occult and darkness. The mix is extremely effective, but it’s forced to give way to A Story In Red where the approach is slower and heavier, taking advantage of consistent heaviness to weave melancholy melodies while Marc Grewe offers his unique vocal parts over surprisingly romantic lyrics.
If you like thick Old School Death Metal, you should already be familiar with Leper Colony. If not, Those Of The Morbid will become your bedside album, thanks to its bloody riffs and, above all, the founders’ inimitable touch!
90/100