PANZERCHRIST — Soul Collector (review)

PANZERCHRIST — Soul Collector album cover

Album · 2000 · Death Metal

4.5/5 · 2010-09-13
UMUR

Soul Collector is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Panzerchrist. The album was released in 2000 by Mighty Music. Soul Collector is now out of print and is only available as part of the Bello: Room Service / Soul Collector (2007) compilation album released by Mighty Music. Soul Collector was recorded and mixed at Borsing Recordings, Aarhus in May and June 2000 by Reno Killerich, Michael Kopietz and Jan Borsing.

There has been quite a few changes to the lineup since the release of Outpost - Fort Europa (1999). Only bandleader Michael Enevoldsen and his then girlfriend Karina Bundgaard are left from the lineup that recorded Outpost - Fort Europa and Karina only plays the bass on four tracks on Soul Collector. New guitarist is Michael Kopietz who also handles bass on the tracks where Karina doesn´t play. Lead guitars are provided by guests Tore Mogensen and Tue Madsen. Vocalist Lasse Hoile left Panzerchrist after the recording of Outpost - Fort Europa to pursue a career as a visual artists so new vocalist is Bo Summer who Michael Enevoldsen had played with while he was a member of Danish death metal act Illdisposed ( Bo Summer´s main act). The last but maybe the most important change to the lineup is the addition of drummer Reno Killerich. Michael Enevoldsen has switched from drums to guitar on this album.

The importance of Reno Killerich is obvious from the first notes played of the opening track Das Leben Will Gewonnen Sein. His speed and his skillful and varied playing is phenomenal. Michael Enevoldsen is a great drummer too, which you can hear on the first two albums by Panzerchrist, but Reno Killerich playing takes Panzerchrist music to a whole new level. The pace is generally much faster on Soul Collector compared to the pace on the two predecessors and the music on the album is also much more brutal than what we´ve heard from the band before. Bo Summer´s vocals are deep and brutal and while they are more or less undecipherable the odd German phrase is noticable on occasion. Yes you read right, the lyrics are all in German, which really gives the music and the war themed lyrics another dimension. I find it quite charming that the band have chosen to write the lyrics in German instead of English on Soul Collector. It´s so far the only album by the band where this is the case. While the music is generally very fast-paced and brutal with blasting drums and a fierce assault on the senses, it´s actually pretty varied and there are plenty of catchy and groovy mid-paced parts in the music too. The occasional melodic guitar solo is also great for the variation. The fact that Soul Collector is only 33:05 minutes long, only works in favour of the album. It´s intense all the way through the playing time and you don´t get to a point where you´ve had too much brutality.

There´s something special about the atmosphere on the album that I think needs to be mentioned too. Besides the excellent musicianship, the atmosphere is really what sets Soul Collector apart from many other brutal death metal albums out there. There´s something dark and sinister about the album and those German war themed lyrics just create associations to filthy battlefields with rotten corpses, blown tanks and the ghastly smell of death. Other war themed death metal acts like Bolt Thrower and Hail of Bullets come to mind but Panzerchrist are a bit darker IMO.

The production suits the music well but maybe could have been a bit more bass heavy. On the other hand the sound is probably also one of the things that sets the album apart from other death metal albums and that´s only a plus.

Soul Collector is one of those albums that instantly clicked with me. The excellent musicianship, the intricate compositions and the brutal assault just works perfectly. It´s not often you´ll see me rating brutal death metal albums with 4.5 stars simply because there are so many run of the mill albums released in the genre where the musicianship might be allright but the songs on the albums are almost impossible to tell apart. Soul Collector is an exception to that unfortunate rule and one of those albums that helps me keep faith in the genre.