Humanity Delete - Fuck Forever Off (2016)

I'm assuming that Rogga Johansson initially intended his dozens of death metal projects to mirror certain individual traits of the many influences in the genre he was weaned on, but the problem with having such a prolific body of work is that the sounds of these bands all tend to bleed into one another to the degree that they become entirely indistinct. As the years continue to roll by, and his catalog becomes deeper still, this grows even more tedious. If you had plunked Fuck Forever Off down in front of me and told me it was the latest Paganizer, or Megascavenger, Revolting, or Ribspreader, I might not know the difference without the actual logo staring at me. Surely there are a few microscopic variations, in both production and composition, but largely any changes come with what personnel he's lined up to work with.

For Humanity Delete, one of his true solo projects, there really aren't any...it's just Rogga alone doing what he's done many times before, and while that's often been good enough, here it just isn't anything of interest. This particular outlet started out with more of a death/grind sound, as I can recall from the middling debut Never Ending Nightmares in 2012, but much as Bolt Thrower evolved from that style, so too does Humanity Delete. The sound manifesting here is more of a straight to the face, slower and groovier variety of death metal which to me felt like a mix of early Grave, Dismember and Bolt Thrower. Spongy, thick Swedish tone, lots of chugging, some grooves, perhaps even some of the death & roll influence his countrymen pioneered. Leads happen at appropriate times but are largely ineffectual. The vocal style is a very dull guttural which is near impossible to distinguish from so many other efforts he's been a part of, and the rhythm section is adequate, with potent drums and bass that sounds thick but usually doesn't deviate too far from what the rhythm guitar track is playing. I think the production is overall well handled, it does give a modicum of depth and atmosphere to the material despite its blandness.

Don't mistake that I think Fuck Forever Off is in anyway incompetent, it's just painfully average. I actually look up to Rogga a lot, it takes some serious dedication to constantly produce albums like this one, this man loves this genre as much or more than any other individual on our planet, and he's got plenty that I'll still break out from time to time. But I don't think I could count more than three riffs on this entire 31 minute experience that I had any real desire to listen through more than once. Tone and style are 100% legit, but the music is just uninspiring whether it's plodding along on tank tracks or breaking out into a faster progression. The Joe Petagno artwork is cool, and as usual Rogga has a bunch of cool song titles like "Lairhunter", "The Hatchet Cleaves the Night" and "Flesh Panzer", but the music simply doesn't do much to evoke the concepts into something that will really fire up your imagination like the early death metal acts that this one venerates did in the 80s and 90s.

Verdict: Indifference [5.75/10]

Humanity Delete - Never Ending Nightmares (2012)

The major issue I face upon the advent of yet another of Roger 'Rogga' Johansson's latest projects is just how redundant it's going to seem with all the other pieces already in play. Surely, there are few human beings on this planet with as much of a commitment to the death metal genre as this man, and he's entertained me through dozens of records over the past decade. A lot of the groups he's involved with have minor aesthetic gradations in terms of their approach to the beleaguered field, but I do feel that, apart from the teamwork of their varied rosters, there are a few that could be wrapped under the same cloth. Ribspreader, Revolting and Paganizer certainly warrant some level of crossover in terms of their musical content, for instance...

And with Never Ending Nightmares, I feel this is once more the case, as the content could pretty much be interchanged with a number of his other bands, and it really doesn't distinguish itself outside of records like Carnage Junkies, Scandinavian Warmachine or Bolted to the Cross. There's a bit more of a grinding, punk edge to the music that's not uncommon among other Swedish death/d-beat hybrids, and I definitely encountered traces of Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower in both the bursts and grooved rhythms. I do like Rogga's idea of creating 'paranormal' themed grind rather than the usual, atmospheric death metal so often attributed to the theme, and the various samples and creepy bits he intersperses through the material help to give it a consistent, conceptual feeling, but when it comes to the straight burn of the guitar progressions, I do feel like so much of this I've encountered before. So, Humanity Deletes really all comes down to just how much more of this same, Swedish grinding style an audience is seeking to experience, rather than a novelty among Johansson's prolific body of axe-work.

Granted, this is a solo record and not so much a collaboration, so credit should be given to how well he handles each instrument. The guitars have that muddy, repulsive grinding flavor the Swedes have been using since the late 80s, and are usually configured into straight barrages of d-beat chords or uppity, thick tremolo sequences which sound like a blend of Dismember and Lock Up. The bass has a nice, coiled timbre but it is too often smothered by the sheer bulk of the guitars, while the drums are pretty fresh and fun even despite the blueprinted structure of their rhythms. I'd say the star of this show would be Rogga's vocals, which have a loud, pervasive inflection to them and plenty of body and echo carrying into the supernatural apocalypse implied through the horror lyrics. A few of the tunes, like "Retribution of the Polong" take on more of a death'n'roll persona with meaty, churning riffs redolent of Entombed circa the mid 90s.

The lyrics for this were written by Jill at Dead Beat Media, who has used her experience living in Malaysia to pursue Asian stories of the paranormal. In that way, this record definitely breaks some ground for Rogga. In fact, it's quite a contrast to have such corporeal music used to represent such 'incorporeal' haunts, but not an unwelcome one. Lasse from Hooded Menace chimes in on a few of the guitar leads, and they're seasoned, sporadic and unnerving enough to add another level, but ultimately I felt like a lot of the riffing patterns just felt too rehashed from scores of other records for me to truly sink my interest into. The production is great, and if you REALLY love a lot of this D-beat/Swedish/death  & grind revival, like Tormented, Mr. Death, Feral, Miasmal, Bloodbath, Paganizer, and so forth, then there's no reason you would not find Never Ending Nightmares a comfort. Yet, compared to the last two albums I've listened to from Johansson's impressive stable, Revolting's Hymns of Ghastly Horror or Putrevore's utterly crushing and superb sophomore Macabre Kingdom, I felt a little short-changed by this.

Verdict: Indifference [6/10]

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