UMUR "Suffering with a Smile" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Rohan. The album was independently released in January 2025. Rohan is a one-man project featuring former Eciton and Jeel lead vocalist/guitarist Thomas Berg, who handles all instruments, programming, and vocals on "Suffering with a Smile". An essential but not well known Danish death metal musician Berg started his musical journey in 1993 in the Copenhagen suburb Virum and played in local death metal band JegErEnLampe which changed their name to JEEL before releasing their debut full-length studio album "Dying Dreams" in 1996. JEEL released their second full-length studio album "As Morning Turns to Day" in 1999 but disbanded after a few years of inactivity. Berg then joined Eciton in 2004 and has been an active member on several releases. Berg has among other things also composed a heavy metal football anthem for his local club Lyngby Boldklub.

Stylistically the material on the 11 tracks, 38:58 minutes long album is in a style of death metal which combines elements of old school death metal with more contemporary songwriting ideas. The vocals vary from growling, to screaming, to shouting (often doubled), and even some semi-clean vocals. The programmed drums are the least interesting feature of the music, and they are wisely placed low in the mix. They are not terrible but they don´t add anything to the music either. They are just there to carry the riffs and the vocals forward. It´s definitely a death metal release where the vocals are the dominant focus in the soundscape.

Upon conclusion "Suffering with a Smile" is a decent quality first release from Rohan. It´s relatively standard for the genre both in terms of the quality and the songwriting style, and in that respect it doesn´t stand out much from a lot of other contemporary releases which also combine the old school death metal sound with a slightly more technical and varied contemporary sound, but it´s overall a good quality release and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

arcane-beautiful Even In Arcadia by Sleep Token is a great move into more mainstream territory for the mysterious project. The rollout of singles on this album and the campaigning was perfect, but when it comes to the finished project, it does start to verve into predictable song formats. But while the ending does show more experimenting promise, the real clincher of this album is the production, performances and lyrics. While not overall being a thrill ride, the quality of material is fantastic with great creative choices throughout with pristine glimmer. On this album Vessel is more comfortable with his own voice, possibly linking to the concepts and themes, overall creating a great almost cinematic narrative. Great mix of styles proving that these guys deserve the attention that they have been currently getting. Lyrically the album is perfect, with great use of language and imagery. While not as grabbing as their previous album, this is still a great follow up and by far no slouch. I'd give this a low to mid 8 out of 10.

UMUR "The Lost Tapes" is a compilation album release by Danish death metal act Frozen Sun. The compilation was released through Emanzipation Productions in April 2024. Frozen Sun formed in 1992 and released the "Defect Dimension of Souls" demo in 1993. It would be three years before they released their debut full-length studio album "Dimensions" (1996). Before disbanding in 1998, Frozen Sun had also released the "Too Cold for Life" (1998) demo.

"The Lost Tapes" features all material from the "Defect Dimension of Souls" demo (five tracks) and five additional tracks which sound like they are pre-production demos for "Dimensions" (two of the five tracks appear on "Dimensions"), but I haven´t been able to find any information about the last five tracks on the tracklist, so this is my best guess.

While all material featured on "The Lost Tapes" is obviously remastered demo tracks, the sound production is of a good quality, and it´s also obvious that Frozen Sun were one of the better playing artists on the Danish death metal scene of the 90s. Especially the material from the "Defect Dimension of Souls" demo is strongly influenced by Deicide, but the remaining tracks feature a lot more lead guitar parts and variation and the Deicide influence isn´t as strong on those tracks. Unfortunately they lack some of the savage power of the tracks from "Defect Dimension of Souls", but it´s not bad quality material.

Upon conclusion it´s nice to get a chance to listen to the material from the "Defect Dimension of Souls" demo without having to search the vaults for the old cassette tape demo version, and although the quality of the remaining material isn´t quite as high as the material from the debut demo, "The Lost Tapes" is still overall a good quality release and a 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Parasomnia" is the fifteenth full-length studio album by US progressive metal act Dream Theater. The album was released through InsideOut Music in February 2025. It´s the successor to "A View from the Top of the World" from 2021. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as original drummer Mike Portnoy has returned to the fold replacing Mike Mangini, who had held Portnoy´s seat warm since 2011, where Portoy left to concentrate on other projects. Although the split with Mangini was amicable, he was in fact fired to make room for Portnoy´s return.

Portnoy was always much more than "just" the drummer in Dream Theater as an integral part of the songwriting team and the production team, and also as one of the most active band members when it came to media interviews, and his return to Dream Theater has made huge waves on the progressive metal scene. "Parasomnia" has as a result been an even more highly anticipated new release from Dream Theater than usual (and it´s not like every Dream Theater album before this one haven´t been met with almost hysterical level fan expectations and media attention). They are indeed the most well known and respected progressive metal band in the world...

Stylistically "Parasomnia" is one of the darker and heavier releases in Dream Theater´s discography along with albums like "Awake" (1994) and "Train of Thought" (2003). But albums like "Metropolis, Part 2: Scenes From a Memory" (1999) and "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" (2002) are valid references too if you want something from the band´s past to compare "Parasomnia" to. It´s like the band have consciously looked back at their turn-of-the-century albums and have found inspiration there for this album. At this point James LaBrie doesn´t sing that many really high notes though and it´s probably a good idea that Dream Theater have composed the material to accommodate LaBrie´s voice. He can still sing and he has a distinct sounding voice, which suits Dream Theater´s sound well, but age and years of touring the world have taken a toll on his ability to hit the high notes (which is audible when you attend a Dream Theater concert these days). While it´s not LaBrie´s fault, it doesn´t help make the vocal part of "Parasomnia" more interesting and varied if you compare it to some of the band´s earlier releases, but of course that´s been a tendency for now many albums, so it shouldn´t come as a surprise to anyone.

Other than that Dream Theater are as well playing as ever. Four virtuoso instrumentalists in the same band writing and playing complex progressive metal is always worth the price of admission, but honestly the incredible musicianship doesn´t mask the fact that the songwriting could need some focus and attention. Even better an outside producer would be nice at this point (guitarist John Petrucci is again credited for producing), weeding out some of the less interesting parts and making the band focus on and develop upon some of the amazing songwriting ideas this album also features. While songs like "Night Terror" and "Midnight Messiah" are immediately catchy and memorable, it takes quite some time to get familiar with the remaining material, because it´s either not as hook laden or sometimes have a tendency to wander off into noodly territory, which of course is what we expect from Dream Theater, but it often feels like the technical playing isn´t a means to an end (read: an integral part of the composition), but just there because the band knows that this is what the fans expect.

The sound production is overall well sounding, heavy, and detailed, and it´s not surprising to learn that Andy Sneap is responsible for mixing and mastering "Parasomnia". There´s a heavy metallic tone to the album, which suits the material well. Upon conclusion "Parasomnia" is an album which leaves me biased when rating it. On one hand it´s probably exactly what most Dream Theater fans expected and wanted, but as a more casual fan it would have been nice if Portnoy´s return had brought some of the 1990s Dream Theater greatness with it...but it really doesn´t. This is just another high quality progressive metal release from Dream Theater in a long line of relatively similar sounding but still high quality post-2000 releases from the band. The only time they´ve truly challenged themselves since the early 2000s was with the release of "The Astonishing" (2016), but I guess the fan reactions (mine included) to that album made them think twice about ever experimenting with their core sound again.

While my review may come off as a bit harsh and negative, it should not be misunderstood as if I don´t think "Parasomnia" is a high quality release, because it certainly is. The dream/nightmare lyrical themes which grace all tracks on the album is also well thought out and implemented, and when all is said and done "Parasomnia" is overall a strong release from Dream Theater. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "A Sonication" is the seventh full-length studio album by German death metal act Obscura. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in February 2025. It´s the successor to "A Valediction" from 2021. Only lead vocalist/guitarist (and band founder) Steffen Kummerer remains from the lineup who recorded the predecessor. "A Sonication" was released in the midst of a storm of controversy regarding the songwriting credits, as some former members of the band accused Kummerer of using parts they had written. Parts which according to them, Kummerer had promised to remove from the compositions.

Songwriting controversy or not, Obscura sound more or less like they have done since the release of their second album "Cosmogenesis" (2009). Technical death metal with a progressive edge, influenced by 80s/90s death metal acts like Death and Pestilence (the technical death metal albums by those artists) albeit appearing in a more contemporary skin and sound. Obscura have lifted the foot from the technical playing pedal though, and "A Sonication" overall sounds a bit more straight forward than what Obscura have released since "Cosmogenesis", although "A Valediction" also leaned that way. There are a lot of melodic death metal tendencies here too, and although Obscura have always been quite a melodic inclined technical/progressive metal act, they have increased the melodic death metal elements on "A Sonication". The vocals as usual vary between snarling raw vocals and deeper growling. There are occasionally some raw shouting and slightly more melodic tinged singing on the album too.

Although the material on the 8 tracks, 39:07 minutes long album is overall well written and the album features high level musicianship and a crisp, sharp, and detailed sound production, it´s still like something isn´t right. Obscura sound a bit tame and uninspired and "A Sonication" is an album lacking fire and passion. For a death metal release this is pretty limb, and although no one should ever expect to hear Suffocation or Cannibal Corpse brutality on an Obscura album, a bit more bite and intensity wouldn´t have hurt. It´s not a bad quality release, but it does sound a little sterile and lacking in energy. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved, but this seems like a crossroads for Obscura, and It´ll be interesting to see where they go from here.

UMUR "Cancer Culture" is the eighth full-length studio album by Polish metal act Decapitated. The album was released through Nuclear Blast in May 2022. It´s the successor to "Anticult" from 2017 and there´s been a few lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Młody has been replaced by British drummer James Stewart. Bassist Hubert Więcek has also jumped ship. The latter has not been replaced here, so the bass is recorded by session bassist Paweł Pasek. The usual suspects are lead vocalist Rafał Piotrowski (credited as Rasta) and guitarist and band founder Vogg. Since the release and subsequent tour supporting "Anticult", Vogg has landed the high profile job as lead guitarist in Machine Head (which he has now left again), and paired with the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, it´s not so strange that it´s taken Vogg and co. 5 years to write, record, and release "Cancer Culture".

The time has been spend wisely though, as "Cancer Culture" is an effective, powerful, and well composed release filled to the brim with fast technical drumming, ultra sharp and intense guitar riffs, intriguing lead work, and a raw shouting/semi-growling frontman. Stylistically Decapitated are a bit hard to nail down, but a hybrid of artists like Gojira, Meshuggah, Fear Factory, and Machine Head isn´t all wrong. There is a sharp and brutal groove to their music and a combination of groove laden post-thrash and technical death metal probably isn´t an all wrong description of their music. Although they stared out playing a technical death metal style, which was a little more old school oriented, they´ve played a similar style to the one found on "Cancer Culture" on the last couple of preceding releases. So it´s nothing new or suprising, but Decapitated have really brought their A-game to "Cancer Culture", which is their strongest and most memorable album in a while.

There are some truly jaw-dropping moments found on the album, and especially some of the fast rhythmic riffing by Vogg is extraordinaire. He is incredibly skilled and fully deserves the riff meister tag. The other band members deliver high level musical performances too though, and even if this is not your poison, it´s still an album which deserves your attention just for the high level musicianship. Piotrowski is probably the least standout member of the band. He delivers shouting/screaming semi-growling vocals, which are alright, but could just as well have been added to most other contemporary releases in this genre, and you wouldn´t know that it was him singing. In other words...he gets the job done, but neither his voice nor his delivery are anything out of the ordinary for the genre. Jinjer vocalist Tatiana Shmayluk guests on "Hello Death", which brings some variation to the vocal part of the album and Vogg´s new (now former) employer Robb Flynn also contributes guest vocals on "Iconoclast".

The sound production is clear, powerful, and detailed, suiting the material perfectly and upon conclusion "Cancer Culture" is through and through a high quality release from Decapitated. If things go as they usually do "Cancer Culture" will be another moderate success for Decapitated, who are a well respected name on the scene, but aren´t a commercially successful act beyond being a successful underground artist, and that would be a real shame, as this album has a bit more potential than usual for the band. My ears don´t agree with every choice the band have made or with every aspect of the band´s sound (the vocal part of the music could for example have been more unique), but overall this is a great release and a 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Godless Beauty" is the second full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Cemetary. The album was released through Black Mark Production in October 1993. It´s the successor to "An Evil Shade of Grey" from 1992 and features one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist Christian Saarinen has been replaced by Anton Hedberg. Cemetary formed in 1989 and released a couple of demos before getting signed by Black Mark Production for the release of "An Evil Shade of Grey (1992)".

While "An Evil Shade of Grey (1992)" was more or less an old school Swedish death metal release in the unremarkable end of the scale, "Godless Beauty" is a pretty different sounding beast. Cemetary are still rooted in death metal, but they have opted to include death´n´roll, death/doom, and goth metal elements to their sound. Lead vocalist/lead guitarist Mathias Lodmalm is the focus of the music with his haunted semi-growling vocals and melancholic lead guitars, while the remaining cast more or less just deliver what you´d expect.

The album features a couple of up-tempo tracks (an example is album opener "Now She Walks the Shadows"), but most tracks are either heavy and mid-paced, or slow and doomy. It´s definitely an album where atmosphere is weighted higher than interesting playing details and sharp riffs. Valid references are artists like Paradise Lost and Tiamat but with an occasional death´n´roll twist.

Upon conclusion "Godless Beauty" is a decent quality release. It´s reasonably varied, the sound production (although a bit thin) is alright and the musicianship is decent too. It´s certainly more interesting than the lacklustre debut album, but it´s not an album which is through and through convincing. Maybe is just hasn´t aged well, because I remember it being a lot better when I listened to it in the 90s. A 3 star (60%) rating isn´t all wrong.

UMUR "Enveloping Absurdity" is the debut full-length studio album by US, North Dakota based death metal act Phobophilic. The album was released through Prosthetic Records in September 2022. Phobophilic formed in 2016 in Fargo and have released two demos, an EP, and a split with Canadian death metal act Sedimentum before being signed for the release of "Enveloping Absurdity".

Stylistically the material on "Enveloping Absurdity" continues the Demilich/Adramelech influenced old school death metal style with a semi-technical twist, which Phobophilic have played since day one. After listening to the 2019 "Undimensioned Identities" EP, I was a bit disappointed that Phobophilic had opted for a relatively one-dimensional unintelligible growling vocal style, because the vocals on their 2017 "Demo 1" featured some pretty aggressive and intense vocals, which were a great asset to that release. Well...my disappointment continues regarding the vocals on "Enveloping Absurdity" because it would seem that the one-dimensional unintelligible growling vocal style is now Phobophilic´s prefered singing style. It´s actually not because it´s bad or doesn´t suit the music, but it´s just when you know that they once delivered something which was a lot more interesting and intense, it´s hard not to feel a little disappointed.

That aside (I wasn´t planning on the description of the vocals becoming such a huge part of my review), Phobophilic still deliver a varied, dark, and twisted old school death metal attack, featuring many tempo changes, morbid leads, a dark surreal atmosphere, and a great organic playing style. "Enveloping Absurdity" features a well sounding production job too, so upon conclusion it´s a high quality debut album from Phobophilic and they can rightfully be proud of this release. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Horrific Manifestations" is a split release featuring Canadian death metal act Sedimentum and US death metal act Phobophilic. The Split was released through Rotted Life Records in May 2020. It features one track from each artist, which are exclusive to this release.

Sedimentum is first up with "Oblitération", which is a harsh, murky, and very brutal death metal track with abysmal deep growling vocals. Phobophilic´s "The Bottom of Creation" is a slightly more dynamic old school death metal track in their usual Demilich/Adramelech influenced playing style (this opens as one of their more heavy and doomy tracks, but soon enters whirlwind blasting territory). Both tracks are great quality old school death metal with a slight semi-technical twist. Nothing too fancy, but there is no doubt that these guys can play.

"Oblitération" features a slightly more dark and murky sounding production style than the more detailed yet still brutal and powerful sounding production on "The Bottom of Creation". Two tracks of course aren´t much to put on any release, but mind you that both tracks are exclusive to "Horrific Manifestations" and both are well worth the price of admission. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Undimensioned Identities" is an EP release by US, North Dakota based death metal act Phobophilic. The EP was released through Blood Harvest Records (co-released by Rotted Life Records) in September 2019. It´s the band´s first label release, as both the 2017 "Demo 1" and the 2019 "Rehearsal 2019" demo were independently released by the band.

Stylistically the four tracks on the 18:37 minutes long EP continue the semi-technical old school death metal sound of the previous releases. It´s still the Demilich/Adramelech school of playing that Phobophilic are a part of, but thankfully they aren´t just clones. I was hoping it was just because it was a rehearsal demo, that the vocals on the "Rehearsal 2019" demo was pretty one-dimensional and unintelligible growling, because that wasn´t the case at all on the band´s 2017 "Demo 1". That first demo featured two different growling vocal styles, and the vocals were a great asset to the band´s sound on that demo. Unfortunately it seems that Phobophilic have now opted to only use the one-dimensional unintelligible growling vocal style, because that´s the only vocal style heard on "Undimensioned Identities" and to my ears that´s a step down in quality compared to the vocals on the first demo.

The instrumental part of the music is still as intriguing, twisted, and brutal as it was on the previous releases, and Phobophilic excel in tempo changes (often heavy and mid-paced, but also both doomy and very fast-paced blasting), morbid leads, and a great surreal atmosphere. They are quite unique although the influences mentioned above of course are heard here and there. "Undimensioned Identities" features a clear, organic, and powerful sounding production, which suits the material perfectly. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Rehearsal 2019" is the second demo release by US, North Dakota based death metal act Phobophilic. The demo was independently released in March 2019. It follows the release of the 2017 "Demo 1", which was a high quality demo recording and a very promising first release from Phobophilic.

"Rehearsal 2019" is a rehearsel demo and consists of only one 13:00 minutes long track. It consists of different sub tracks though, it´s just that the band haven´t bothered to split the track into individual tracks. Stylistically the listener is treated to the same semi-technical and quite creative old school death metal style, which is also found on the 2017 "Demo 1". The vocals are less interesting than on the studio demo though, and are just deep unintelligible growling. As expected from a rehearsal demo the sound quality isn´t pristine, but I´ve heard a lot worse, and here you are actually able to hear most of what´s going on. A 2.5 star (50%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Demo 1" is the first demo release by US, North Dakota based death metal act Phobophilic. The demo was independently released in July 2017. Phobophilic formed in 2016 in Fargo. It´s not every day you come across an extreme metal act from North Dakota, and I´m guessing it´s not a state with a huge extreme metal scene, but these guys have obviously found each other and formed a band.

The demo features 6 tracks (one is a short intro) and a total playing time of 20:57 minutes, so there´s enough quantity here to get to know what Phobophilic sound like. To my ears they play a relatively creative type of old school death metal, with the occasional more contemporary twist (breakdowns and some pretty technical playing). The music features quite a few tempo changes, and can go from slow and doomy, to mid-paced and heavy, to fast-paced and blasting in a matter of seconds (acts like Demilich, Adramelech, and Disembowelment are valid references at various points during the playing time). The vocals are either growling, or slighly more aggressive and snarling. They are brutal and quite intense, and they are generally a great asset to the music.

Considering that this is a demo release, it features a very well sounding production job. Raw, brutal, yet detailed. So upon conclusion Phobophilic arguably hit something a bit special with this release. Not only are the musical performances on a high level on all posts, but the sound production is also of a high quality, and add to that some creative songwriting resulting in an adventurous horror drenced and almost darkly psychedelic old school death metal journey. This is more than just a promising first release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is more than deserved.

UMUR "Retaliation" is the second demo release by US, Virginia based thrash metal/crossover thrash metal act Enforced. The demo was independently released in December 2017. Enforced formed in 2016 and released the "Demo 2017" demo in March 2017 and this demo before being signed for the release of their debut full-length studio album "At the Walls" (July 2019, War Records). "At the Walls" however only features two new original tracks, while the remaining tracks on the album are remixed and remastered versions of the tracks from the "Demo 2017" demo and from this demo.

"Retaliation" is the sharper, even more aggressive, and intense sibling demo release to "Demo 2017". The vocals are raw shouting and ultra aggressive, while the riffs and rhythms alternate between a fast-paced thrash metal attack and mid-paced heavy grooves. The sound production is raw, sharp, and brutal, but still detailed enough to hear every instrument and vocal part clearly in the mix. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.

UMUR "Demo 2017" is the first demo release by US, Virginia based thrash metal/crossover thrash metal act Enforced. The demo was independently released in March 2017. Enforced formed in 2016 and released this demo and the December 2017 "Retaliation" demo before being signed for the release of their debut full-length studio album "At the Walls" (July 2019, War Records). "At the Walls" however only features two new original tracks, while the remaining tracks on the album are remixed and remastered versions of the tracks from this demo and from the "Retaliation" demo.

The demo features four tracks and a total playing time of 10:30 minutes. It´s harsh, ultra aggressive, and sharp hardcore tinged thrash metal. It´s like listening to a sharper and more aggressive version of Cro-Mags. It´s definitely the furious energy and caustic aggression which are in the high seat, although Enforced aren´t bad musicians either. They can both play and compose effective songs. "Demo 2017" features a raw, aggressive, and sharp sounding production, which suits the material perfectly, so upon conclusion it´s a good quality first demo by Enforced and a 3.5 star (70%) is deserved.

UMUR "Helvede" (featuring the subtitle "Music Defining Hatred 1992-1995") is a compilation album release by Danish death metal act Illdisposed. The compilation was released through RRS in 1995. It bridges the gap between Illdisposed´s second- and third full-length studio albums "Submit" (1995) and "There's Something Rotten... in the State of Denmark" (1997). "Helvede" features all material from the 1992 "The Winter of Our Discontempt" demo, all material from the 1993 demo/promo "Soulstorm", and three unreleased tracks ("Withering Teardrops", "Instrumental", and "Die Kingdom").

Considering that this is predominantly a compilation featuring demo material, the quality is relatively high. Illdisposed released some quality material early in their career and this compilation shows the great development Illdisposed went through from the early death-doom tinged death metal of "The Winter of Our Discontempt", to the all-out brutal and faster-paced "Soulstorm", to the three unreleased tracks which were recorded during 1994/1995 showing the diversity of Illdisposed.

"Helvede" is a compilation well worth the price of admission. If you´re fan of early Illdisposed but have only listened to the studio albums, these recordings will fill some of the gaps of your knowledge and understanding of the development of Illdisposed. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.