If you are unfamiliar with Rogga Johansson, well, you shouldn't be, but I'll introduce you to some of his works anyway. He was born on May 25^th, 1976 and has since built up a legendary reputation in both the music and the Metal world. He has been, is and probably will be a part of amazing projects; some of which include DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN, ECHELON (you might remember him from my review of their latest album), HUMANITY DELETE, MEGASCAVENGER, PAGANIZER, PUTREVORE, THOSE WHO BRING THE TORTURE, and many, many more. This time, I am here with the debut record of his solo project ROGGA JOHANSSON, "Garpedans"; released through Chaos Records on April 24^th, this year. He has prepared nine tracks for you, with all of the instruments and vocals handled by him; so the least you can do is give the album a spin, and share your opinion of it.

"At Mountain Garpe" is the first track, and it's a solid start. The riffs are super heavy, the vocals are brutal, and the overall tone of this song is surprisingly brutal. The growls that start around the first minute mark, after the short riff intro are pretty good, somewhat original and not too focused on classic Death Metal vocal styles. The atmosphere of this song is quite weird, which does not mean it's bad. It has a slight touch of orchestral moments in it, and it feels pretty epic in general. "A Seal Has Been Broken" enters with brutal drumming and even faster riffs than previously heard, the vocals haven't changed much in tone, but it's okay so far. "The Thrower of Boulders" is the heaviest so far, and what I must note is that the musical (a.k.a. instrumental) side of this album is phenomenal, but I just can't appreciate the vocals. No offence to the master, I know I'm a nobody when it comes to music and I know he certainly knows more and does more, but the vocals just in all honesty don't sound good for me. I mean, they are okay, but the tone just doesn't sound the same in every song, although I understand if this was his intention.

Still, the instrumentals are amazing, the atmosphere is beautiful and it's really an interesting approach to Swedish Death Metal that has some orchestral moments. Solid!