UMUR "The Doomsayer's Call" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Coldworker. The album was released through Listenable Records in February 2012. It´s the successor to "Rotting Paradise" from 2008. There´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as guitarist André Alvinzi has been replaced by Daniel Schröder.

Lineup change or not the material on "The Doomsayer's Call" pretty much continue the death metal/deathgrind style of Coldworker´s first two albums. The album opens with one of the more heavy mid-paced tracks of the album in "A New Era", and Coldworker are actually best when they play a little slower. The faster grinding tracks are generally a little less interesting and not many of them stand out or are particularly memorable beyond the album´s playing time.

Coldworker are well playing and Joel Fornbrant is a powerful growling vocalist. I´m not a huge fan of his voice and vocal style (I find it rather one-dimensional and strained), but it´s a subjective opinion, and his vocals arguably suit the material well. "The Doomsayer's Call" features a professional and powerful sounding production job too, and upon conclusion it´s another solid release by Coldworker. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Rotting Paradise" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Coldworker. The album was released through Relapse Records in May 2008. It´s the successor to "The Contaminated Void" from 2006. The regular version of the album features 12 tracks, while the Japanese version features a cover of "Necromancer" by Sepultura. Dan Swanö is credited for mixing and mastering "Rotting Paradise" at his Unisound Studios.

Stylistically the material on "Rotting Paradise" continue the brutal and aggressive death metal/deathgrind of "The Contaminated Void (2006)". The vocals are growling, and the execution of the music is sharp and effective. Coldworker are a very well playing act, driven forward by former Nasum drummer Anders Jakobson.

"Rotting Paradise" features a sharp, clear, and detailed sound production, which suits the material well, and it´s an upgrade from the harsh sounding production of the debut album. The material is relatively well written, but "Rotting Paradise" is not album featuring many tracks that you remember after it has finished playing and overall the tracks are also a little one-dimensional in nature. So all in all a decent quality release from Coldworker, but nothing out of the ordinary. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "The Contaminated Void" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Coldworker. The album was released through Relapse Records in November 2006. Coldworker was formed in early 2006 by former Nasum drummer Anders Jakobson. Nasum disbanded in May 2005 after the tragic death of guitarist/vocalist Mieszko Talarczyk in the late 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, and about a year later Jakobson started to look for musicians for a new deathgrind project. A five-piece lineup was assembled and the writing and recording of "The Contaminated Void" began in mid-2006.

If anyone expected Coldworker to be a continuation of Nasum, they´d be dead wrong, although "The Contaminated Void" features many blastbeat parts and deathgrind features. Those features are combined with heavy and more brutal death metal elements though, and to my ears Coldworker is ultimately more a death metal act than a deathgrind ditto. The vocals are one-dimensional growling, and the tracks typically vary between blasting deathgrind sections, and groove laden mid-paced heavy sections. "Return to Ashes" is an example of a track, where the latter style is dominant.

The material on the 14 track, 39:37 minues long album are generally well written, but it´s not an album featuring many standout tracks, or much variation between tracks (despite the above mentioned tempo changes). So a couple of tracks into the album the tracks start to sound a bit the same (with a few exceptions like the above mentioned "Return to Ashes"). The harsh sounding production job unfortunately doesn´t help the songs to sound more dynamic. So upon conclusion "The Contaminated Void" is an album with both good quality features and some less interesting ones. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.