JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN

Death Metal • Multi-National

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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN is a multi-national death metal act consisting of Rogga Johansson (guitar, bass), Paul Speckmann (vocals) and Brynjar Helgetun (drums). The band released their debut full-length studio album "Sulphur Skies" in 2013.

The members are known from acts like MASTER, DEMIURG, THOSE WHO BRING THE TORTURE, PAGANIZER, RIBSPREADER and many, many more.

(Biography written by UMUR)

Thanks to UMUR for the addition

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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Discography

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN albums / top albums

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Sulphur Skies album cover

3.00 | 1 ratings

Sulphur Skies
Death Metal 2013

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Mask of the Treacherous album cover

3.00 | 1 ratings

Mask of the Treacherous
Death Metal 2015

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Edge of the Abyss album cover

3.00 | 1 ratings

Edge of the Abyss
Death Metal 2016

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN From the Mouth of Madness album cover

3.00 | 1 ratings

From the Mouth of Madness
Death Metal 2018

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN The Germs of Circumstance album cover

3.00 | 1 ratings

The Germs of Circumstance
Death Metal 2020

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN EPs & splits

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Lair of the Wretched album cover

0.00 | 0 ratings

Lair of the Wretched
Death Metal 2013

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN live albums

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN re-issues & compilations

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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Reviews

JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN The Germs of Circumstance

Album · 2020 · Death Metal

UMUR

"The Germs of Circumstance" is the fifth full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Johansson & Speckmann. The album was released through Soulseller Records in October 2020. It´s the successor to "From the Mouth of Madness" from 2018 and features the exact same quartet lineup who recorded the predecessor. The project is centered around prolific Swedish guitarist/bassist Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, The Grotesquery)...etc.) and American (living in the Czech Republic) lead vocalist Paul Speckmann (Master, Abomination, Death Strike).

Stylistically the material on "The Germs of Circumstance" continue the old school death metal style of the preceding album releases by Johansson & Speckmann. Don´t expect much development of sound or any compositional surprises. It´s still old school and predominantly heavy and mid-paced death metal with both thrash and hardcore (occasionally some punk influenced riffs and rhythms) with Speckmann´s slurry semi-growling vocals in front. It´s not far removed from the style of the first Master album, and the quality of the music is pretty much in that area too.

8 tracks and a total playing time of 26:14 isn´t much quantity for the money, but it wouldn´t have mattered if the quality and memorability of the material were high, but that´s not really the case here. While "The Germs of Circumstance" is both well performed and features a raw and effectful sound production, the material isn´t particularly memorable beyond the album´s playing time. So upon conclusion "The Germs of Circumstance" is another relatively mediocre release from Johansson & Speckmann. It´s not bad by any means, it´s just pretty standard for the genre. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

2 months ago
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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN From the Mouth of Madness

Album · 2018 · Death Metal

UMUR

"From the Mouth of Madness" is the fourth full-length studio album by multi-national death metal act Johansson & Speckmann. The album was released through Soulseller Records in March 2018. It´s the successor to "Edge of the Abyss" from 2016 and lead guitarist Kjetil Lynghaug, who was only credited as a session musician on "Edge of the Abyss (2016)", is now a permanent member of the lineup.

"From the Mouth of Madness" is a relatively short and conscise album featuring 9 tracks and a total playing time of 31:30 minutes. Stylistically the material on the album don´t differ much from the old school death metal style of the preceding releases by the band (simple riffs and rhythms, and the occasional atmospheric lead part to spice things up), and lead vocalist Paul Speckmann still performs his growling vocals with an odd unintelligible drawl. He sounds almost sloppy in the way he pronounces the words, but there are a couple of vocal parts on the album where he sings in a more clearly pronounced death/thrash style, which is more similar to the vocal style of the late 80s/early 90s releases by Death Strike and Master. They are unfortunately few and far between, because his more dominant growling vocal style isn´t particularly impressive.

Upon conclusion "From the Mouth of Madness" is a decent quality old school death metal release, but it´s not breaking any new ground, and it´s a pretty standard quality release for the genre in terms of production values, songwriting, and performances. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

3 months ago
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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Edge of the Abyss

Album · 2016 · Death Metal

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.

10 months ago
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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Mask of the Treacherous

Album · 2015 · Death Metal

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.

10 months ago
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JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN Sulphur Skies

Album · 2013 · Death Metal

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.