After all that gallivanting about the shiny realm of the Metal o’ the Light, it is time to descend to the 10th circle of hell yet again. Doesn’t exist, you say? Well, wait until you taste the fare the new Panzerchrist record will slam onto your turntable.
And believe you me, this band will try to prove their point with a relentless attack of vile metal. Looks like all those staff changes paid off and the 10-year wait for new material wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Down to the torture chamber with you. Gory fun and games with the Lightbringer await. Turn the rack.
7th Offensive – Panzerchrist‘s 2013 record – still leaned heavily into Death Metal with a slightly roasted and definitely blackened style. A heavy, mid-tempo chug that tried to blow you to smithereens with a relentless beat and those typical Death Metal vibes. However, Last of a Kind ramps up the aggression and seriously moves onto the territories of Black Metal proper. There definitely is spring in their tune now, from measured beats to a reasonably high-speed tremolo fest and a gluttony of blast beats.
And perhaps this stems from yet again bringing in a majority of new band members for this here record. Good ol’ Panzergeneral aka Michael Enevoldsen remains the only original member of the band still on duty. All others joined later. And that means, four out of five members got on board in 2023. With the hidden exception of Frederik O’Carroll who already worked with the outfit back in 2006. So, welcome back, Fred.1
But the most intriguing of the gang is one Sonja Rosenlund Ahl.2 She’s a savage one, here for an abundant supply of growls, rasps, screams, and torture noises on the rack. But more importantly. She seems to be the gal we were looking for to dethrone Alissa from Arch Enemy who’s relentlessly walking down to boring town. So, looking at the band photo I thought we caught ourselves a typical worn-down growler. Only to find out that she does or did stuff like ‘Nondestructive Mapping of Long-Range Dislocation Strain Fields in an Epitaxial Complex Metal Oxide’. And she’s a tattoo artist, too. Ha! So, she’s a brainy one from academia with a seriously dark metallic streak. What better could we ask for?
Last of a Kind is as no-nonsense and brutally direct as Vulture Lord always was. I mean, the high-pitched screams on Turn The Rack just put you in the mood for more blackened brutality. No weird chanting needed, just have straight at them, right Panzerchrist? And that’s what they do with some gusto. Now, to soften the relentless blows of the fiend’s metal hammer, you’ll find artfully inserted breaks at odd moments. As in My Name is Lucifer which contains a section full of eerie ambient samples. Or take the odd and pretty stellar solo on Last of a Kind, the title track. You’ll suddenly find some oddly satisfying parts of blackened groove (Sabbath of the Rats, for instance). It’s as if the worn-out band here got themselves something to smoke they shouldn’t. But looking at it from a different angle, this is exactly what is needed to soften relentless raw fury a bit so that the record may have a chance to get out of the underground some.
Now, Last of a Kind also elicited a few evil chuckles. The video of Sabbath of the Rats mixes crazed and possessed nuns from an age-old silent movie with this modern metal warfare the folks over at Panzerchrist are capable of. Albeit that they’re trying to push that Black Metal thing a bridge too far at times. For example, on Juniper Creek the RMR reviewers found those keys that mirror the ones on Burzum’s Filosofem. A wink to a blast of the past? Perhaps. But not one that makes me particularly happy.3
Ultimately though, Last of a Kind turned out to be one of the best Extreme Metal pieces to date in 2023. The RMR crew raises its horns in salute to a band that had the courage to find nourishment at the spigots of Black Metal. Together with their penchant for Death Metal and its sturdy, powerful riffs, one suddenly finds one helluva record that won’t quit you from beginning to end. It is raw, full of vile messaging, ferocious, hot enough to burn you to a cinder, but still balanced enough to please those delicate ears of a metalhead. Thus, greetings from the 10th circle of hell all over again. Take the entrance to the left and let ‘er roar. You won’t regret it. Signed: Yours Truly – Old Nick.
Ed’s note: And – drumroll – the record’s made it onto our 2023 Top Ten list. Congrats! And boy, they barely finished and – already – the next load of vile metal gets served. Enjoy!
Record Rating: 9/10 | Label: Emanzipation Productions | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 28 July 2023