UMUR "...and You Will Obey Me" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish/British death metal act Down Among the Dead Men. The album was released through Transcending Obscurity Records in June 2018. It´s the successor to "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" from 2015. Down Among the Dead Men was formed in 2013 by prolific Swedish musician Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Demiurg, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery...among others) and Benediction and former Bolt Thrower vocalist Dave Ingram. They released their self-titled debut full-length studio album in 2013. On this release the drums are played by session drummer Erik Bevenrud, while Johansson handles all rhythm guitars and bass and Ingram performs vocals. Lead guitars are played by session guitarist ​Kjetil Lynghaug​.

Including the latter mentioned on "...and You Will Obey Me" was definitely a clever move as his leads and other contributions to the music make "...and You Will Obey Me" a more varied release than the two preceding releases by Down Among the Dead Men​. Stylistically it´s otherwise more of the same hardcore/punk infused old school death metal which the band also played on the two predecessors. Johansson as always delivers strong and brutal riffs and Ingram once again proves why he is often counted among the most legendary lead vocalists in the death metal scene. His performance here is among his strongest to date. His growling vocals are brutal but still intelligible and he always writes clever and interesting lyrics. The drumming is predominantly hardcore/punk influenced D-beats and other similar drumming styles.

"...and You Will Obey Me" features 10 tracks and a total playing time of 30:33 minutes which is perfect for this type of release. It´s short, sharp, and brutal, and while it´s definitely in the varied end of hardcore/punk infused death metal releases, a longer playing time and more tracks would have lessened the impact of the album and maybe even have contributed to making it a tedious affair, but that´s fortunately not the case here. Also featuring a powerful, raw, and detailed sound production, there are very few complaints from me regarding "...and You Will Obey Me" and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish/British death metal act Down Among the Dead Men. The album was released through Cyclone Empire in November 2015. Down Among the Dead Men was formed in 2013 by prolific Swedish musician Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Demiurg, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery...among others) and former Benediction and Bolt Thrower vocalist Dave Ingram. They released their self-titled debut full-length studio album in 2013.

Not surprisingly "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" more or less continues where the debut album left off, with a hardcore punk influenced death metal style. There´s generally a little less punk and a bit more old school death metal in the sound this time around though, but that´s details because we´re still exposed to fast D-beat drumming, relatively simple brutal riffs, and Dave Ingram unmistakable growling roar in front. The album also features a couple of guest vocal performances. Most notably by Kam Lee (Massacre, The Grotesquery, Bone Gnawer) who performs vocals on the cover of "Forged In Fire" by Anvil. An interesting choice for a cover song as Dave Ingram also did a cover of that song with his former band Benediction...

...and just to get it out of the way, this cover of "Forged In Fire" doesn´t reach the masterful Benediction version at all. Kam Lee lacks bite and conviction here. The rest of the material on "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" is of a fairly standard quality and what I´d pretty much call Rogga Johansson death metal by the numbers. The musicianship is decent, the performances are solid, the songwriting professional but very standard for the genre, and the sound production is decent, but not the type of production which enhances the music more than normal. So all in all "Exterminate! Annihilate! Destroy!" is one of the more standard releases featuring Rogga Johansson. Enjoyable while it plays, but quickly forgotten when it´s over. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Down Among the Dead Men" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Down Among the Dead Men. The album was released through Cyclone Empire in November 2013. Down Among the Dead Men features a couple of prolific names in the lineup in Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Demiurg, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery...among others) and former Benediction and Bolt Thrower vocalist Dave Ingram. Guitarist Dennis Blomberg is the last member of the lineup. The drums are handled by session drummer Erik Bevenrud.

The music on the album is D-beat punked death metal, featuring great energy and aggression. The 13 tracks on the 30:15 minutes long album are simple, powerful and raw. Usually around 2 minutes long and very much to the point. Initially I feared the album would become a one-dimensional listen, where you couldn´t tell the tracks apart, but that fear is put to shame. There might not be much variation between tracks, but there are little details that make the tracks stand out from each other anyway. It´s especially how Dave Ingram stresses his words and phrases, that´ll have you shouting along to the furious rythms and punked riffing. His vocal performance here is commanding, his voice strong and his delivery passionate. He has always been one of the greatest growling vocalists on the scene and continues to be so here.

So while the music on "Down Among the Dead Men" can hardly be called original, it´s still a very strong release. The sound production is powerful and raw, the musicianship are solid and the songwriting effective. Out of all of Rogga Johansson´s projects, Down Among the Dead Men belong in the better half and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.