Anti-religious lyrical themes have always fascinated me. Even with my bitter relationship with Black Metal, I still dig the lyrics just for their anti-religious rants. Death Metal is much more diverse and has relatively lesser anti-religious lyrics, barring bands like DEICIDE. After their highly acclaimed 2013 album "World Lobotomy", Swedish Death giants PAGANIZER come back to release their 10^th full length album titled "Land of Weeping Souls", scheduled to release August 1^st, with not just anti-religious themes, but also about death, gore and the usual Death Metal themes.

The first song "Your suffering will be legendary" is a train wreck from start to finish, as the riffs and blast beats relentless pound, alongside the growling vocals of Rogga Johansson. It's the kind of song that is juicy and gets you headbanging even in the most boring of places. The lead guitars and rhythm guitars sound perfectly complementary to each other, and the song doesn't sound too brutal for an old school Death band. "Dehumanized" starts with a haunting guitar riff, before going on a plummeting plethora of drum beats and heavy riffs. Listening to it on headphones, feels like a bunch of slabs being thrown on your head from a top. The growling vocals, are clean enough for the listener to catch the lyrics and sing along as the song progresses. "Forlorn dreams" stands out for its haunting vocals, besides the sharp heavy riffs. It's one of those songs that the fans can expect the band to play it in their live shows.

The title track "Land of weeping souls" actually fails to live upto the build-up and expectations, and sadly doesn't offer anything new to the listener, beyond the absolute maddening chaotic music. The aptly titled "The insanity never stops" starts with a very unique fast paced riff, and what with the sound of a rifle made ready to shoot, the veterans here just plant their brand of vicious Death Metal, than connoisseurs of the genre will be left begging for more. "Selfdestructor" starts off like a train chugging from far away from the listener, and the song gets heavier as it progresses, and add those juicy Death Metal riffs, you have a song to headbang to. "Death addicts posthumous" brings some melodic and also fast paced sharp guitar work to the table. "The buried undead" takes the artistic creativity to the next level with its stop-start song structure, and also keeping the goodness of heavy and sharp guitar work and the relentless blast beats, making it one of the stronger songs on offer here. The main riff of "Soulless feeding machine" is one of the best on offer in this record. Continuing with the themes of death and mortality, the album ends with another sick 3 min song in "Prey to death".

If you are fan of bands like OBITUARY and FACEBREAKER, PAGANIZER's new offering should not disappoint you, even with all its flaws. The band formed in 1997, now releases its 10^th full length album on its 10 years anniversary. Fans, both old and new, should dig this, for all the right reasons.