UMUR Breath of the Demiurg is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Demiurg. The album was released in February 2007 by Mascot Records. Demiurg is another one of Swedish metal musician Rogga Johansson´s many projects. As if it wasn´t enough that he, on a regular basis, releases albums with both Paganizer and Ribspreader, he now also operates Demiurg ( and a lot of other projects). Without a doubt one of the most prolific, busy and hard working Swedish musicians at the moment. Rogga Johansson plays all guitars and provides growls on the album. Johan Berglund plays the bass and none other than Dan Swanö plays drums and keyboards. The album was produced by Dan Swanö at Unisound.

When you see the name Rogga Johansson on an album sleeve you´re almost always sure what you´ll hear when putting on the album. The music on Breath of the Demiurg is in that regard no surprise. We´re presented with high quality old school Swedish death metal. Just like our mama made it. Fat crunchy brutal riffs, mid- to fast paced tempo ( not really fast) and some great brutal yet slightly decipherable growling vocals. So far so good. The thing that makes Breath of the Demiurg stand out is the sense for melody and the occasional atmospheric and epic sounding keyboard section. Never think this is melodeath though. It´s probably as far from that genre as you can get. This is authentic and brutal and the melodies are not too obvious. The closest I can come to a comparison would be a mix of the brutality of Grave and more melodic inclined early Edge of Sanity. I´m well entertained throughout the 40 minute long album, and while the album seldom reaches excellence, it´s highly consistent.

The production is typical for old school Swedish death metal with the trademark fat and crunchy guitar sound.

Breath of the Demiurg might not be a revelation in its genre, but it´s a great album in its own respect and a 3 - 3.5 star rating is well deserved.