UMUR
"The Collector 1" is a compilation release by Swedish death metal act The Cleaner and Mr. Filth's Van Murders. The compilation was released through Art of Stench Records In May 2019. It features all the material from the EPs "Mr. Filth's Otherworldly Journey" (2019), "The Cleaners Got the Blues (Cemetery Date Night Deluxe)" (2019), "Death Comes to Deutschland", and "Death Comes to Deutschland Part 2", plus the previously unreleased tracks "Executioner Hood Homage" and "Tools of the Executioner". The Cleaner and Mr. Filth's Van Murders was active from December 2018 to August 2019 and released no less than nine EPs and one full-length studio album in those months and "The Collector 1" as mentioned above features the material from four of those EPs. A second compilation album titled "The Collector 2" was released in August 2019 containing the material from the remaining five EPs plus a couple of additional previously unreleased tracks.
The Cleaner and Mr. Filth's Van Murders is a one-man band consisting of prolific Swedish death metal musician Rogga Johansson. Johansson is involved in a large number of different death metal projects, and his release schedule is arguably one of the most busy on the scene (often releasing dosens of albums with different projects each year). The Cleaner and Mr. Filth's Van Murders is a project born out of the interest to tell more stories about the two murderes (The Cleaner and Mr. Filth) Johansson first sang about on "The Van Murders" (April 2011, Vic Records) album from his Ribspreader project.
Featuring 19 tracks and a total playing time of 61:12 minutes you get a lot of quantity for the money when purchasing "The Collector 1" and if you´re a fan of Johansson´s usual old school mid-paced brutal and heavy death metal style, you´ll be pleased with the content of this release. Nothing really sticks out as being above or below standard for the genre, and it´s really only the lyrics which tell the tale of the exploits of the two murderous villans, which sets this project apart from many of Johansson´s other death metal projects. There´s not much difference between the material or the sound productions of the different EP releases, so the compilation is a very consistent release. Both in terms of quality and style. So upon conclusion "The Collector 1" is another good quality death metal release from Rogga Johansson. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.