UMUR "Edge of the Abyss" is the 3rd full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Johansson & Speckmann. The album was released through Soulseller Records in September 2016. It´s the successor to "Mask of the Treacherous" from 2015 and still features the trio lineup of Rogga Johansson (guitars, bass), Paul Speckmann (vocals) and Brynjar Helgetun (drums). Especially the two former mentioned are quite prolific names on the scene. Rogga Johansson for his work with among others Demiurg, Paganizer, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery and Bone Gnawer and Paul Speckmann for his work with Death Strike, Abomination and especially Master.

Stylistically the material on "Edge of the Abyss" is a continuation of the relatively simple old school death metal style of the two predecessors. Death metal riffs (heavy and tremolo), heavy brutal drumming, and Speckmann´s slurred distinct sounding growling in front. The latter may be a distinct sounding growler, but his performance is pretty one-dimensional and not particularly strong. His words are slurred and sluggish and sometimes I´m in doubt if he has adopted the language of his new country (Czechia) and sings in that language rather than in English. The negatives out of the way, the music is overall decent enough and I especially enjoy the well played guitar solos featured on the album, which are courtesy of Rogga Johansson-projects regular Kjetil Lynghaug.

"Edge of the Abyss" features a relatively well sounding production job, and it´s an entertaining enough release if you can appreciate Speckmann´s vocals. It´s not exactly a revolution nor is it the most interesting release the two mainmen have been involved in, but a 3 star (60%) rating is still warranted.

UMUR "Mask of the Treacherous" is the 2nd full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Johansson & Speckmann. The album was released through Vic Records in February 2015. It´s the successor to "Sulphur Skies" from 2013. Johansson & Speckmann is a project act consisting of Rogga Johansson (guitar, bass), Paul Speckmann (vocals) and Brynjar Helgetun (drums). Especially the two former mentioned are quite prolific names on the scene. Rogga Johansson for his work with among others Demiurg, Paganizer, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery and Bone Gnawer and Paul Speckmann for his work with Death Strike, Abomination and especially Master.

Stylistically this is exactly what you would expect the combined forces of Johansson and Speckmann to sound like. Old school death metal featuring Speckmann´s growling vocals in front. It´s solid but seldom excellent death metal packed in a good quality sound production, performed by skilled musicians. Speckmann has become a little more unintelligble through the years and not all words come through clearly. He is a decent enough growling vocalist, but nothing out of the ordinary, and on this release his singing sounds a bit slurred. For Johansson this is just another day at the office. He can produce solid death metal riffs ´till the end of existence, but they are unfortunately seldom more than just solid and the same applies here. The pace goes from mid- to fast- to blasting, so there is a decent variation in that part of the album´s sound.

After only a few tracks the whole thing becomes a little tedious, predictable, and one-dimensional though. It´s not the type of album where you´ll be able to remember much from when it has finished playing, although it´s decent enough while it does. So upon conclusion it´s a just above average quality old school death metal release and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Sulphur Skies" is the debut full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Johansson & Speckmann. The album was released through Vic Records in June 2013. Johansson & Speckmann is a project act consisting of Rogga Johansson (guitar, bass), Paul Speckmann (vocals) and Brynjar Helgetun (drums). Especially the two former mentioned are quite prolific names on the scene. Rogga Johansson for his work with among others Demiurg, Paganizer, Ribspreader, The Grotesquery and Bone Gnawer and Paul Speckmann for his work with Death Strike, Abomination and especially Master.

So these guys are quite the seasoned bunch, and while there´s little technically challenging being played on "Sulphur Skies", it´s still obvious they know what they do. Stylistically the music on "Sulphur Skies" is old school death metal. Mostly Swedish styled with a slight D-Beat punk influence, but there are nods toward the late eighties/early nineties US scene too. So this basically sounds exactly how I imagined it would. Something along the lines of early Entombed meets Master. Especially the guitar sound is typical Swedish. Downtuned, buzzing and crunchy. The sound production is overall decent, but the drums could have prospered from a more organic sound. There are times when I wonder if the drums are programmed.

Featuring 12 tracks distributed over a 34:53 minutes long playing time "Sulphur Skies" is a relatively short and "to the point" type of album, which is only good in this case, because the songwriting isn´t particularly interesting or memorable, although "Sulphur Skies" is enjoyable enough while it plays. So while the collaboration between Johansson and Speckmann might sound great on paper, in reality it´s a pretty mediocre affair. Not bad, but not really great either and a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.