Panzerchrist – Maleficium Part 2
Release Date: 22nd August 2025
Label: Emanzipation Productions
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal.
FFO: Dormant Ordeal, Vader, God Dethroned, Belphegor, Hate, Crypta.
Review By: Malte Brigge
Since forming in 1993, Denmark’s Panzerchrist have never released two albums with the exact same line-up, but the recent run of Last of a Kind (2023), Maleficium Part 1 (2024) and now Maleficium Part 2 finds them at their most consistent—and possibly their best. Founding member and primary songwriter Michael Enevoldsen (aka Panzergeneral) helped write Part 2 before stepping away from Panzerchrist “to try something new” (according to a February Facebook post), giving the band “the opportunity to move forward”. It was recorded with bassist Rune Wasmer, drummer Ove Lungskov, guitarists Danny Bo and Frederik O’Carroll (the latter of whom was with the band from 2002–2006 and rejoined in 2023) and conflagrating vocalist Sonja Rosenlund Ahl. Once known for war-themed death metal with blackened edges (panzer), this much more scorched incarnation howls about witches and persecution (christ). It doesn’t matter how familiar you are with their tank-commanding past (including the semi-classic triumvirate Soul Collector [2001], Roomservice [2003] and Battalion Beast [2006]), because this is practically a different band spreading their own variant of black death.
Maleficium Part 2 wastes one full minute on silly, spooky introductory sounds before setting alight 40 minutes of scorched earth. Ahl quickly asserts dominance with a voice that could raise the dead and stop the undead, searing you with black screeches or drowning you in magmatic roars. Catchy, chant-along, Crypta-esque refrains—repeated a little too much—shriek over intense musical barbarity in the Belphegor and Immortal tradition. Tremolos lacerate ferociously, the first three songs burning by almost indistinguishably. Hex Maleficium Pex slows things slightly, introducing riffy breaks and time changes that crack open the album and let the listener breathe. Bo and O’Carroll lace in melodic hooks and occasionally take off on some outstanding solos. The one on Harmbidder particularly makes me crave more such pyrotechnics, but they play them sparingly. The sliding main riff and wild arpeggiated runs on The Descent and the melodic shuddering on Black Mirror merge their all-out aggression with startling technicality. On Walpurgis Night stands out for its doomier riff and pacing. Though it will get you singing along, it could stand a little trimming.
Songs often “break and shift”—slam to a stop, rest a beat, then introduce a different riff or modulation. This works, but would be more effective if it didn’t happen in nearly every song. Hex Maleficium Pex almost feels like three different songs loosely chained together rather than one seamless piece. There’s also a tendency to overuse atmospheric song intros (long a Panzerchrist feature). They do little except create space between songs and set up musical jump scares. It almost works on Suffer My Fury, a blistering second-degree burn of a song that breaks and shifts into a cosmic mood under a starry synth overlay. Effects and secondary instrumentation distinguish ideas from each other—your flanger fill on Hex, dulcimer outro on Harmbidder, church organ on Black Mirror, industrial Stranger Things-y fadeout at the end of the album. It’s tough to catch these moments in such a busy mix, but they are good touches that ease the otherwise seething assault. Producer (and longtime Panzerchrist associate) Tue Madsen (Bæst, Moonspell, At the Gates, Behemoth, Dark Tranquillity, etc.) knows how to put an album together and makes good use of the studio.
Space is not always efficiently used; the bass is often buried while vocals occasionally overpower the mix—but when you have a flamethrower like Ahl, you can’t help but emphasize her. The drums, too, are just a tad flat in the production. Panzerchrist have always expected their drummers to be firestorms (having several times hosted 2003’s “fastest feet in the world” winner Reno Killerich), and they’ve got their man in Lungskov. His pedal work could skin a cat at thirty yards and might cause front-row fans CTE. He relentlessly turns standard songs savage. The pedals and sharp snare work that kick off Harmbidder or his accelerating blast beats on Catalyst of Chaos leave visible burn scars on the landscape. It seems the band is afraid of asking him to bring it down a notch when even slower moments like On Walpurgis Night or the see-sawing of Black Mirror find Lungskov blowing shit up with the gleeful precision of a demolition blaster.
The two parts of Maleficium signal the arrival of a new band under a veteran’s name. Part 2 will cause chaos in the pit and rattle your neighbor’s brains. You’ll be shouting along to songs even on the first listen, horns held high as you lose your voice, going “Dance with the witches!” or “The only good witch is a dead witch!” or “Witchfinder General!” The guitar work could slice skin, the drums could flay flesh, and Ahl’s voice could power a crematorium. I’m curious to see where Panzerchrist goes without Enevoldsen’s leadership, but they seem ready to ignite any audience that dares get in their way.
(3.5 / 5)
