PANZERCHRIST
Last Of AKind
EMANZIPATION PRODUCTIONS
Dutch death/black diehards return ready for another war
The perfect vehicle for tales of bloody conflict, blackened death metal is the myopic zealot’s subgenre of choice. Panzerchrist have been knocking around for 30 years now, and their modus operandi remains largely unchanged since their 1996 debut, Six Seconds Kill. Their first album in a decade, Last Of A Kind is better produced and more elegantly crafted than its predecessors, but it still sounds like a swarm of giant, steel-plated Satanic wasps, hellbent on grinding skulls to dust. The title track is particularly vicious. It’s eight minutes of white-knuckle blasting, ghoulish detours and deadly threats, and it confirms that new vocalist Sonja Rosenlund Ahl is, in the nicest possible way, an absolute beast. Meanwhile, Baptized In Piss is a necrobanger for the ages. ■■■■■■■■■■