UMUR "Last Of A Kind" is the eigth full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released through Emanzipation Productions in July 2023. It´s the successor to "7th Offensive" from July 2013, so it´s been 10 years since we´ve last heard from Panzerchrist. Only band founder/bassist Michael Enevoldsen remains from the lineup who recorded the predecessor. Sonja Rosenlund Ahl has been added as the new lead vocalist, which marks the first time that Panzerchrist have had a female lead vocalist.

It´s not something you notice though, as Rosenlund Ahl has an aggressive blackened snarling growl, which could just as well have been delivered by a male singer. Stylistically Panzerchrist continue the blackened death metal style they initiated on "7th Offensive". They used to be a more pure death metal act, but in the last 10-15 years they´ve started to incorporate a blackened edge to their music. It´s all delivered with sharp precision and an authentic old school death metal feel, and there´s some nice morbid lead work on the album too, which is good for the variation of the album.

"Last Of A Kind" features a well sounding production job, and upon conclusion it´s a good quality release from Panzerchrist. I can´t say I appreciate this new blackened direction much and I much prefer their old brutal and fast-paced death metal approach (but that´s just my subjective opinion), but there´s enough quality here to warrant a 3.5 star (70%) rating.

UMUR "7th Offensive" is the 7th full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released through Listenable Records in July 2013. After a longer hiatus Panzerchrist released "Regiment Ragnarok" in 2011 but although "7th Offensive" was released relatively shortly after that (2 years between albums is pretty normal these days), a lot has happened to the lineup in those few years. Panzerchrist was always a pretty unstable band when it came to the lineup, but this time around there have been more changes than usual as only band founder Michael Enevoldsen (here using the alias Panzergeneral) remains from the lineup who recorded "Regiment Ragnarok (2011)". New faces are Simon Schilling (drums), Nils Petersen (guitars), and Søren Lønne (vocals). Enevoldsen handles bass and keyboards.

The music on the album is relatively brutal death metal, but it´s not without melodic moments, and it´s actually relatively catchy for the style. New vocalist Søren Lønne is a pretty standard deep growling and relatively unintelligible singer, and his singing style suits the music well. The musicianship is overall on a decent level, but to my ears new drummer Simon Schilling´s drumming style is a bit of an issue. Maybe he has been instructed to not play any fills or to play as lifeless as possible, but he sounds so much like a machine, that I initially thought that the drums were programmed. An assumption which was further fueled by the artificial drum sound. Especially the cymbals/hi-hat and the snare drum sound like they were programmed, so there´s an issue with the sound production too.

The material is generally well written and for the genre relatively varied, and as usual the lyrics focus on war, which songtitles like "Panzer the 7th Offensive", "The Stronghold of Hill 666", and "Napalm Alarm", are a testament to. If I have to compare the music style on "7th Offensive" to some of the band´s previous releases, it would be the first couple of albums that I think about, and neither the direct predecessor nor the Bo Summer fronted albums.

So it´s an album with both good sides and bad sides, but overall it´s a decent quality release and if the monotone drumming doesn´t bother you, you´ll probably enjoy it a bit more than I do. Personally I expected a bit more, and I definitely don´t count "7th Offensive" among the band´s best releases, but a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is still deserved.

Wilytank I am a giant fan of Panzerchrist. They've made some of the best death metal of the last decade with Battalion Beast being among my all time favorites in the genre. But in the 90's, Michael Enevoldsen's ever changing ragtag Danish gang actually made some pretty good death metal as well. Their first album, Six Seconds Kill, easily got overshadowed by some of the bigger albums of the decade (Cryptopsy's None So Vile was released the very same year) that this band could have easily fallen into obscurity had they not released more music three years later.

But what we have here on Six Seconds Kill is essentially Bolt Thrower poked with a cattle prod a few too many times. The music here, like Bolt Thrower has that crushing "steam roller" sound in their riffing; it's very heavy. Meanwhile, they also love their war lyrics. But Panzerchrist play faster and have a more distinct lead guitar than Bolt Thrower does; and while Bolt Thrower's war lyrics seem to be more nostalgic, Panzerchrist's lyrics are just straight up misanthropic here on this album. The lyrics on Six Seconds Kill are backed up by a meanacing sounding vocalist who has some variety in his voice as he issues out shrieks and growls and is really fun to listen to throughout the album as a result.

The instruments also hold their weight in the mix as well. The guitar riffs are absolutely relentless and heavy, the drums are extremely tight and furiously played, and together they create a well crafted mix of sonic warfare. However, the tracks here seem to have the glaring problem that makes them kinda blur together and be not quite as memorable. There isn't a lot of musical variety between the songs and there isn't a lot of qualities that help any of them stand out with the glaring exception being the keyboard parts of "Halls of Oblivion". With repeated listens though, picking out favorite songs becomes easier such as my favorites "Winterlands" and "Halls of Oblivion". On the flip side, it's also easier to pick out what's weaker such as the shorter track "Panzer".

I still say this is an album worth checking out if you're a fan of older death metal. There's definitely some good times to be had here, and Enevoldsen and Lasse Hoile on drums and vocals respectively are the biggest stars of the album, though the riffs are definitely no joke either though they are again rather hard to remember on a single listen. Definitely their weakest so far, but it was also their first and Panzerchrist have a string of excellent albums to be released after the turn of the millennium. Six Seconds Kill is a nice album to start out a full investigation of Panzerchrist's discography, though their material gets way better after this.

(80/100)

UMUR "Regiment Ragnarok" is the 6th full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released by Listenable Records in April 2011. It´s been five years since the release of "Battalion Beast (2006)" and the lineup has changed significantly in those years. The only remaining members are band leader and bassist Michael Enevoldsen and guitarist Rasmus Henriksen. New second guitarist is Lasse Bak (also keyboards), whom Michael Enevoldsen had played with on the Illdisposed debut album "Four Depressive Seasons (1993)". However the most significant changes have occured on the vocal and the drum spots. New vocalist Magnus Jørgensen replaces Bo Summer (who now fully concentrates on Illdisposed) and drum machine Reno Killerich is replaced by Mads Lauridsen. Both have giant shoes to fill.

The music on the album is ultra fast played death metal with a blackened touch. Actually I´d say "Regiment Ragnarok" is the most blackened album yet from Panzerchrist, but they are still a death metal act at their core. New vocalist Magnus Jørgensen both utilizes deep growling and higher pitched raspy vocals. He does a decent job but I prefer Bo Summer´s growls. It´s the same with new drummer Mads Lauridsen, who does a great job, but he is no Reno Killerich. The lyrics as usual evolve around war which is obvious just from looking at song-titles like "For the Iron Cross", "We March as One", "Trenches" and "Ode to a Cluster Bomb".

I don´t know what it is but "Regiment Ragnarok" doesn´t make my blood boil like some of the earlier releases by Panzerchrist. It´s definitely a high quality blackened death metal album with well written and effective tracks, a professional and powerful production and a very well playing band, but I´m still waiting to get the irresistable urge to give the album more spins when the album ends. So for now a 3.5 star rating is warranted.

J-Man Denmark's Panzerchrist has seen quite a few lineup changes over the years, and Regiment Ragnarok is no exception. Only two of the members from the band's previous album (Battalian Beast from 2006) remain in the fold this time around, but that should not be viewed at all as a bad thing. Despite the amount of lineup shuffles that have occurred within Panzerchrist, the band has always stayed true to their relentless style of death metal, and Regiment Ragnarok shows the band as brutal and creative as ever. This album is filled with bone-crushingly heavy riffs, captivating war-themed lyrics, and fantastic musicianship that just oozes with class. If you like your death metal to be uncompromisingly brutal, yet still intelligent and technically demanding, Regiment Ragnarok is one of the best recommendations I can think of. Panzerchrist fans and newcomers alike will definitely want to check this one out.

For anyone familiar with Panzerchrist, their style of brutal technical death metal with black metal influences should be instantly recognizable. A chilling atmosphere and highly memorable riffs set this apart from your average fast-paced death metal album, though. There are just enough melodic tendencies and riff variation to keep the album from ever becoming a boring mess. Every song is memorable, extremely fast-paced and heavy, and captivating even after multiple spins. Regiment Ragnarok is the sort of album that just refuses to grow stale, and instead reveals itself even more in-depth after every repeated spin. Seldom do I come across an album this brutal that manages to achieve such a feat - and that just spells "quality" on the band's behalf.

One of the most attractive features about Panzerchrist is undoubtedly the top-notch musicianship. These guys are tight, professional, and technically gifted musicians. Regiment Ragnarok contains quite a few difficult riffs and solos, as well as near-impossible drum patterns. Mads Lauridsen's insane drumming blows me away every time I give this album a spin. New vocalist Magnus Jørgensen is also fantastic and one of the most enjoyable death metal vocalists I can think of - he masters many extreme vocal styles and sounds like he ate a plate of nails before every recording session. There's certainly not much more I could ask from a death metal vocalist! The production is equally professional and enjoyable, finding the perfect balance between sounding polished yet not too sterile.

Regiment Ragnarok really blew me away in almost every regard, and currently stands as one of the finest death metal releases of 2011. Fans and newcomers to Panzerchrist will definitely want to give this one a spin, provided that you enjoy your death metal to be on the faster, more-extreme side. Regiment Ragnarok finds the perfect balance between brutality and memorability, and I will applaud Panzerchrist all day long for managing to achieve this essential point that so many bands forget about. Add in the terrific musicianship and production, and it looks like we have an essential album on our hands. 4 stars are well-deserved in this case.