Album Review: Leper Colony - Those Of The Morbid
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
When German vocalist Mark Grewe and Swedish guitarist Rogga Johansson expanded their friendship and love for old school death metal into creating music together, the result was Leper Colony who released their debut self-titled album in 2023. The first album was well received by both the critics and the fans and now Leper Colony return with album number two “Those Of The Morbid” with the band now made up of guitarist Håkan Stuvemark and drummer Jon Rudin.
If you enjoyed the old school death metal worship of the previous album then there is plenty more for you to enjoy on “Those Of The Morbid”. The band’s mix of old school Swedish and American death metal is tempered with a good dose of old school thrash especially in the riffs department with songs such as ‘The Age Of Insanity’, ‘Realm Of Madness’ and ‘Creature From The Deep absolutely guaranteed to gets heads a banging. There is a good hint of melody that can be heard in the guitar work especially in the solowork though the melodic side of the band really comes to the fore in album closer ‘A Story In Red’ which sees Leper Colony stray into some different territory with this song far more resembling melodic death metal rather than the old school death metal worship that makes up the rest of the album.
The performances on the album are excellent with the savage vocals from Mark Grewe (also of Asinhell, Insidious Disease and formerly of Morgoth) being in that wonderful old school style and being a particular highlight. Rogga Johansson is in more bands and projects than I can count (his profile on Metal Archives may crash your device whilst loading) yet he still manages to come up with a plethora of great death metal riffs and he is perfectly complemented by other guitarist Håkan Stuvemark whilst the drumming from Jon Rudin is solid and punishing.
Leper Colony may be a throwback band paying homage to the golden days of death metal but the guys that make up the band really know their death metal meaning that the album has that spark and vitality to it and the passion and love for the genre really shines through these songs.
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