Track Premiere: Rapture Addict – Leper Colony

Today we have the extreme pleasure of premiering a track from the upcoming self-titled release by Leper Colony, a death metal band featuring vocalist Marc Grewe (Morgoth), drummer Jon Skäre (Consumption), and the one and only Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Furnace, Those Who Bring the Torture, and over forty other bands actively releasing albums) on guitar and bass.

Their sound is a hook-filled old-school thrashing death metal that comes off a bit like Slayer got into a gruesome rumpus with Autopsy and Death. As one has come to expect from Johansson, Leper Colony is so full of riffs you’ll run out of space in your brain to contain the onslaught of guit-fiddling. As proof of this, thanks to our friends at Transcending Obscurity Records, we’d like to present the latest Leper Colony single, “Rapture Addict.” Hit play, you crazy bastards!

After a quick drum intro and classic thrash/death metal riff, Marc Grewe comes in with a vocal similar to Martin van Drunen (Asphyx), which compliments a cadence that gets more aggressive as the song progresses. Grewe is excellent on the entire record and, like Johansson, he’s not content sticking to the script. The track “Tar and Feathers” sounds like an old-school thrash/crossover hardcore thing, and the song “Leper Colony” is more death/doom, maybe even melodic death metal.

Johansson takes melody in all directions with dual-guitar solos, hooks, and divebombs. The promo material calls the album “an absolute riff-fest,” which is the best way to put Rogga’s work here. He has had quite a year with at least nine releases under various banners and though he routinely stays well within his death metal wheelhouse, 2022 saw a much more melodic Rogga Johansson. Evident in particular with the latest Paganizer record and the power metal of Gauntlet Rule, Johansson is doing a little bit of everything with Leper Colony and it’s goddamn spectacular.

The album releases in January 2023 but three tracks are currently streaming. You should listen to them immediately.

Line up –
Marc Grewe (ex-Morgoth, Insidious Disease) – Vocals
Rogga Johansson (Paganizer) – Guitars, Bass
Jon Skäre (Consumption) – Drums

Artwork by Alex Tartsus (De Profundis, Depravity)

Logo by Dipayan Das

Track listing –
1. The Human Paradox
2. Perdition’s End
3. The Surgical Undeadvors
4. Tar and Feathers
5. Rapture Addict
6. Leper Colony
7. A Flow So Greatly Macabre
8. Flesh Crawl Demise
9. Gruesome End