UMUR "The Berzerker" is the self-titled debut full-length studio album by Australian, Melbourne based grindcore act The Berzerker. The album was released through Earache Records in April 2000. The Berzerker is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of drum machine grindcore along with an act like Agoraphobic Nosebleed. There are of course loads of artists practicing this style, but The Berzerker is one of the most successful ones.

The music on the album is grindcore with death and industrial metal influences. The latter influence mostly stems from the fact that the drums on the album are programmed and as a consequence there is a cold mechanical edge to the band´s sound. I´m often reminded of early Carcass if they had used programmed drums. Mostly because of the sick gurgling/gargling and growling/higher pitched snarling vocals, but also because of the prominent use of eerie voice samples with pathologists talking about their job. There are also samples from horror movies. It´s just an influence though and ultimately The Berzerker have quite a unique sound and for a grindcore act also quite a varied sound. The use of samples and the occasional use of keyboards really enhance the dark and eerie atmosphere of the band´s music. Towards the end of the album, the diversity of the band´s music goes a little overboard though and they close the album with two noise tracks, that might challenge even the most ardent extreme metal fan.

Besides those two closing tracks the other 13 tracks on the 40:55 minutes long album are high energy aggressive grindcore tracks featuring very convincing and varied extreme vocals. Personally I find this both original (well... at least within the boundaries of the genre) and highly enjoyable and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.