There are just some acts out there that seem to not be able to do any wrong whatsoever. A mishap after however many albums can be understandable, especially if you’ve been going strong for years and year with loads of records with your band’s name on it. Paganizer is one such act I would suspect to have at least one album that’s lacking somewhere given their noteworthy career of keeping the flame of old school Swedish death metal going incredibly strong. If it was with their last record, “Land of Weeping Souls”, was a landmark album from them then it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call “The Tower of the Morbid” their magnum opus!
If the ever-sexy art of Dan Seagrave isn’t enough to draw you in even if the very name of Paganizer doesn’t compel you to listen with all your being then it’s the vicious tornado of flesh that’s always going throughout every single track of this grinding record that, surely, will grab you right by the balls. There isn’t a single iota of a second wasted when you hit play as it’s right of the gate that “The Tower of the Morbid” punishes and delivers in equal amounts seductive death metal that has been in the hand of these masters for ages now and intoxication that only a crunchy riff and being thrashed around within an inch of your life in the most glorious fashion. Just doing all that in an album would be enough for me to give it a thumbs up, but Paganizer has always been able taking things to the next level and that’s precisely what they’ve done here in every possible capacity. “The Tower of the Morbid” has taken the very concept of Swedish death to unprecedented heights as Paganizer pulls out all the stops to make these eleven tracks that very pinnacle of what so many fans of the genre seek out when they delve into any new album: riffs that cause headbanging for days on end, vocals that instantly makes blood boil, drumming that could crack the very sky right open, and a grand level of intoxication that’s woven in every single song! Just one single spin of “The Tower of the Morbid” is not nearly enough to get a fill of what Paganizer has put on display for us, and after many hours of listening to this virtual masterpiece of the genre, there’s only one thing to say about the spectacle: fuck yes!
So many acts have come and gone from the scene of Swedish death with too many notable names to list off, and one name that has already been branded into my brain whose burn still brings forth so many macabre pleasures is, obviously, that of Paganizer who even after over twenty years hasn’t lost their touch. In every single possible way with utmost power and potency, “The Tower of the Morbid” is possibly the flagship album that is in very good company given this year’s already phenomenal turnout but it’s Paganizer that’s yet again leading the charge.
“The Tower of the Morbid” releases on November 1st via Transcending Obscurity Records!
LISTEN to advanced tracks from “The Tower of the Morbid” on Bandcamp here.
LIKE Paganizer on Facebook here.
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