"The Final Plague" is the second EP from the Swedish Death Metal band, DEATH REICH. This one follows the excellent "Death Camp" EP. In the two years between releases, they have shored up their sound, and now they're tighter than ever. Their signature style includes lightning-fast instrumentation coupled with low, growled vocals. Johnny Letho's vocals are surprisingly coherent and well-enunciated.

The EP opens with the title track and, while they never stray too far from their "Swedeath" roots, they still leave some space for innovation. If you like your Death Metal fast and mean, then you will feel right at home with "The Final Plague," both the EP and the first track.

The momentum continues with "The Creator." On this track, they let some Thrash influence in. It gallops along at a fast, bouncy clip, which is a formula that always wins me over.  Also, the flashy, technical lead guitar solo is not to be missed.

On "The Night Will Fall," they adopt a somewhat slower pace with lyrics that are somewhere between spoken and sung. There is another amazing lead guitar solo and the songwriting is top-notch. My only gripe with this, and all of the tracks on "The Final Plague," is that they are too short.

The final track on this EP is a cover of the ENTOMBED song, "Eyemaster." DEATH REICH uses the same hook as the original, just sped up a bit. The entire track has been elevated to DEATH REICH's fever pitch while remaining true to the source material. Much like their cover of METALLICA's "Fight Fire With Fire" on their previous EP, "Death Camp," they made the track their own without disrespecting the original track.

DEATH REICH has put together another solid EP's worth of material. Clocking in at just under sixteen minutes, this EP left me wanting more. I am looking forward to a full-length album from DEATH REICH since they have already proven that they have both the technical and songwriting chops to deliver on all fronts. I can't think of many ways to better spend sixteen minutes of your time.