The Lighthouse

Let’s come clean about Eye Of Purgatory straight away: it’s another Rogga Johansson project. One of about a dozen bands the Swedish death metal maven has on the go and that Transcending Obscurity has deemed good enough to release, the outfit was presented as a solo project on debut album The Rotting Enigma, yet for follow-up The Lighthouse Rogga has enlisted the help of another couple of deathly luminaries, namely Taylor Nordberg and Jeramie Kling, both of whom have played for many years in Johansson’s Ribspreader, as well as spending the best part of this century in American melodeath unit The Absence. Again, though, let’s be honest: songs written by Rogga Johansson will evoke the trembles of ‘90s death metal without fail, right down to the correct placement of goosebumps in a skull pattern on the listener’s arm. Quite unsurprisingly, The Lighthouse could have been written almost any time in the last 30 years by musicians keen on Dismember’s Like an Everflowing Stream and Grave’s Into the Grave.

Granted, this album does have a trump card for anyone calling it a needless rehash of the Swedeath classics, and that’s the rather less expected presence of keyboards. Several of the songs here make quite heavy use of a distant sort of watery synth sound that matches the aquatic themes of the cover art, although certainly doesn’t convey the strength and monstrosity of the creature rising from the sea. Perhaps the keyboard could instead be compared to a wavering beam of light swept about on the choppy surf, since the power of the other instruments overwhelms it easily, as if in comparison between the terrible strength of nature and the feeble attempts of man to curb it. Besides some interweaving lines during the melodic intro piece, those keys sweep out the moment that the title track kicks in, duelling with the melodies in the refrain as well, but holding back just enough to create a sense of mystery, which frankly suits death metal much better than overt usage.

Aside from bringing a touch of atmosphere to an otherwise stock formula, Eye Of Purgatory do well at laying the basics down too. The Lighthouse has been produced just right, allowing the bass to spread out below the broad grinding guitar tone, then thumping unfussy beats all over the sonic scale, finally leaving the upper parts of the spectrum for melodic touches, those floating keys, and the occasional higher vocal from Johansson, who tends to growl low and flat and let the riffs do the talking. Fortunately, those riffs have a lot to say, clocking up a decent hit count even before second-in-line 'Fornever to Awaken' has run its course. The blend between rampaging note-focused monsters, drilling melodic lines, and more staccato verse parts really makes these average-length cuts pass swimmingly, since no more than 30 seconds pass until the riffs change and one of them slaps you squarely on the back of the head like a massive tentacle rising from the ocean. On the rare instances when blastbeats kick in too and the keyboards hover overhead, these guys sound genuinely fearsome.

It would be a little strange to describe Eye Of Purgatory as catchy on this sophomore album, although portions exist where the melodic sparkle and pure slickness of transitions make everything seem intensely memorable. Neat solos like the one in the otherwise mediocre mid-pacer 'Pieces of a Fading World' bring the high intensity back into closer focus, just in the same fashion as the few clean guitar moments scattered across the release. Then there are points like 'Rotting Pathways' where everything clicks and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the interplay of riffs, or 'They Silently Await' where the songwriting seems so obviously effective that it’s surprising no one has written these songs before. Of course, the genre itself has been here in the past, but great cuts can make you forget that in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, 'Where Life Slowly Fades' does venture into other waters, dropping out most of the heavy riffing for underlying chord sequences and a clean melody layered over a singable chorus, so The Lighthouse can’t be accused of looking backwards only.

Understandably, your attitude to the Swedish school of death metal will largely decide how you feel about Eye Of Purgatory. Those wishing that the genre would move on from those satisfying but basic ideas expounded in the first 5 years of Stockholm’s inspiration may be able to grab at the keyboards here as at least a concession to innovation, while those still in thrall at the might of the formula should be more easily pleased by the concentration of riffs and grooves they hear. Looking at the bigger picture, The Lighthouse can’t be called truly remarkable in either sense, yet the quality is all there. Let’s be really honest here: it’s another enjoyable album from Rogga Johansson.


Originally written for The Metal Observer - http://www.metal-observer.com/3.o/review/eye-of-purgatory-the-lighthouse/