Chaos Will Reign

While Berzerker Legion themselves are fairly new, having only released two albums, the musicians are definitely not newcomers to the metal scene. Coming from bands like Dark Funeral, Grave, Therion, Decapitated, Vader, Hypocrisy, Asphyx, Wombbath (and the list goes on and on and on...), one couldn't be faulted for calling Berzerker Legion a supergroup. At the very least, expectations are bound to be high with a lineup of this caliber, and to be honest, the band does deliver a fairly solid record, but not a perfect one.

Musically, Berzerker Legion is melodic death metal but more in the "death" side than the "melodic" side: think more of Amon Amarth's heavier material and At The Gates than the more melodic, less brutal approach of Arch Enemy and In Flames. Expect heavy riffing and the occasional blast beat and thrash beats with subtler and simpler melodies to bring some more catchyness without softening up the sound, and lots of headbanging moments. Definitely the kind of band that has to be great to catch live. However, a lot of the songs tend to sound similar: "Nihilism Over Empathy", "Worship All That Is Dead" and "War Chant" all rely heavily on your typical At The Gates riffing, while the title track "Chaos Will Reign", "Towards Oblivion", "Damnation" and "Sheperds of War" tend to rely a lot on mid-tempo tremolo picking semi-melodic riffs. The band definitely excels more when bringing a less obvious approach, such as the almost black metal inspired first minute and a half of "Eternal Void" or the pummeling heaviness of "Choirs of Anguish" and "Towards Oblivion".

The production of this album is very solid, with the guitars having thick but clear guitar tones helping the riffs and melodies cut through all the distortion backed by heavy and powerful drums, however the bass is quite low in the mix, buried by the other instruments but still somewhat present. The vocals are executed very well, with a strong push towards growled low vocals with a bit of higher-pitched screaming and shrieking sprinkled to the record as to not sound monotone. However, the vocals would have sounded better if the low end was cut a bit more during the mixing, making them less boomy and giving a bit more space to the bass and the bass drums. Still, a very good production all in all.

Though the album can feel a tiny bit samey at times, there are still many standout moments to highlight, as well as some less glorious moments. The slow as a snail "This Is the End" is definitely a miss for me, dragging on for 5 minutes with the least interesting riffing and melodies on the album that fail to sound either heavy or memorable, and to a lesser extent the same could be said of "From the Darkness Inside". The previous song "Towards Oblivion" does a much better job at being a slower but still very heavy song, and while the following "Damnation" is definitely faster-paced than "This Is the End", it managed to be so much heavier and headbang-worthy. All in all, a solid melodic death metal record that might not turn the genre on its head, but definitely a fun record that I will revisit when in the mood for heavier melodeath.

Highlights:
Choirs of Anguish
Nihilism Over Empathy
Towards Oblivion
Eternal Void
Worship All That Is Dead
Shepherds of War

Least favorites:
This Is the End
From the Darkness Inside