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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN
Mask Of The Treacherous

Vic (2015)
Rating: 8.5/10

The Johansson and Speckmanns concerned in Johansson & Speckmann are Rogga and Paul, better known as frontmen and founding members of death metal bands Paganizer and Master. Speckmann has in fact long been cited as one of the originators of the death metal genre, and so this was always going to be a much anticipated opus.

Mask Of The Treacherous is not the first time these two musicians have got together, however. Debut Johannsson & Speckmann platter Sulphur Skies was released in 2013, and now we come to this new batch of tracks. It’s one that should certainly appeal to fans of old school death metal. Johansson and Speckmann are joined by drummer Brynjar Helgetun, who is also responsible for the excellent production on this gnarly album.

First and foremost, I’ve always loved Speckmann’s vocal drool; very much old school by design and yet mostly decipherable, his tone is more of a gore-soaked yap than anything remotely guttural, but it works in maniacal tandem with Johansson’s intense guitar work. The overall feel is an interesting mix of ideas spread across the Swedish and American death metal scene but rarely does it slip into the obvious themes as one would expect, especially with that Swedish influence.

With the title track we get a nice, fluent mixture of pace and mid-tempo chugginess, while with ‘I’ll End Your Rotten Life’ the trio lurches into a frenetic thrash assault bolstered by that frantic bass trundle and Speckmann’s throaty slurs. The track also takes onboard a killer dose of melancholy with the lead and resorts to a mid-tempo nasty chug to allow further accessibility to its darkest depths. It’s my favourite track on the album simply because it marries that old school style of 80s death / thrash with the ever-popular slant toward mustier gruesome trudging.

The menu also features the mid-tempo splattery of ‘Through The Filth And Riddled Ages’ and even boasts some killer melody with the excellent ‘A Grave For This World’, but it’s still a very much no frills, two-finger salute to contemporary dynamics and doesn’t mess about when it comes to going for the throat. However, because of the experience of these two extreme metal wizards, the album is a joyous romp through the backwaters of mouldy death metal, bringing with it a pungent nostalgic air and never trying to be clever.

For me, Johansson and Speckmann have simply set out a stall to prove that it doesn’t matter how much revival stuff gets thrown at you; nothing beats two old timers battening down the hatches and preparing us for a feast of flesh and fun. There are no stand-out tracks, because there doesn’t need to be; Mask Of The Treacherous’ meaty contents all gel together to form a tight-knit and maggot-ridden carcass fit for consumption time and time again.

Neil Arnold

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