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.

UMUR Battalion Beast is the 5th full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released in August 2006 through Neurotic Records. This is the first Panzerchrist album to feature the same lineup as the preceeding album. Drummer Reno Killerich left the band for a period of time but as his replacement didn´t work out he returned to help out and record the drums for Battalion Beast. So he should probably be considered a session musician on this release. The same with Karina Bundgaard who plays the keyboard parts on Battalion Beast.

The music on the album is brutal and mostly very fast-paced death metal. Lead vocalist Bo Summer has changed his vocal style a bit on this album compared to his style on the preceeding albums. He now employs both his usual deep growling vocal style but now also a higher pitched raspy style. I´ve seen Battalion Beast labelled as blackened death metal and that´s probably because of the raspy vocals, but that´s one of the only things on this album that reminds me of black metal. Actually it´s more a band like Napalm Death that comes to mind a couple of times during the playing time. The song War in the North is actually pretty close to sounding like black metal though so maybe there´s a little truth to the label blackened death metal. Only occasinally though. The 9 tracks are all of high quality and with songtitles like He Is Dead Who Will Not Fight, The Spirit of Soldiers and the above mentioned War in the North it´s safe to say that the trademark Panzerchrist war themed lyrics are still present. And as on the predecessor the lyrics are in English.

The musicianship is tight and while this isn´t technical death metal, nor does it try to be, the playing is still pretty impressive. As usual drummer Reno Killerich is a "menchmachine". Ultra fast blast beating and fills. That man is a force to be reckoned with.

Panzerchrist is a pretty new discovery for me, even though they are a Danish act and I´ve heard about them and read reviews of their albums on several occassions. Listening to Battalion Beast, I´m actually a bit ashamed that I haven´t checked out their music before now, because this is simply some of the best Danish death metal I´ve ever heard and they deserve all the support that they can get. Well I´ll make amends right now and recommend Battalion Beast to fans of great quality brutal yet catchy death metal. A 4 star rating is fully deserved. I still consider Soul Collector 2000 to be the band´s masterpiece but I put Battalion Beast above Room Service (2003).

UMUR Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector is a compilation album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The compilation was released in 2007 by Mighty Music. Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector contains the band´s 3rd and 4th full-length studio albums: Soul Collector (2000) and Room Service (2003). In addition to the two full albums there are two unreleased tracks added as bonus. The tracklist is reversed in the sense that the tracks from Room Service are placed first followed by the tracks from Soul Collector. The bonus tracks are placed in the end.

The music on both studio albums are brutal yet catchy death metal. Great quality all the way through. Especially the tracks from Soul Collector stand out as something very special to my ears. The first bonus track Jerusalem is an outtake from the Room Service sessions and is a good quality death metal track that could easily have made it unto that album. Before Life is a short brutal death metal track recorded in 2002. Pretty good but nothing special.

Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector contains two of the best quality Danish death metal albums yet released and as both albums are out of print in their original form, Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector is a great way of getting hold of these two death metal pearls. All on one CD. A 4.5 star rating is well deserved.

UMUR Room Service is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released in September 2003 by Mighty Music. Room Service is now out of print and is only available as part of the Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector (2007) compilation album released by Mighty Music. Room Service was recorded, mixed & produced by Tue Madsen at Antfarm Studio. Michael Kopietz has been replaced by new lead guitarist Frederik O'Carrol and band leader Michael Enevoldsen has switched to bass and keyboards on this album which means that rythm guitarist Rasmus Henriksen is also new in the lineup. Reno Killerich is still behind the drumkit and Bo Summer still delivers his sub woofer deep growls.

The music is brutal yet catchy death metal. The playing is tight and like on the predecessor Soul Collector (2000), Reno Killerich busy and fierce drumming stand out as one of the highlights in the music. Compared to the often ultra fast assault of Soul Collector, the songs on Room Service are generally a bit slower in pace. Songs like Tomorrow and the short title track are still very fast-paced though and are sure to sandblast the skin off your face. Bo Summer´s growls are brutal like hell and Panzerchrist generally show that they are not the kind of band who take prisoners. While the music is pretty much out and out brutal death metal there are plenty of hooks and memorable grooves in the music that gives each song identity. You´ll be able to tell the songs apart after only a few spins. The tracks are all of high quality and songs like Creature, Suicide and the two above mentioned short and fast-paced tracks simply kill. Panzerchrist death metal cover version of the classic self-titled Metal Church track by Metal Church is also very convincing.

The production is very powerful and suits the brutal music well.

Room Service is an excellent death metal album by Panzerchrist and while it´s just short of reaching the hights of Soul Collector, I still find it highly recommendable to fans of brutal death metal with catchy hooks and memorable songwriting. A sure 4 star rating.