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.