Swedish Death Metal project Megascavenger return with studio offering number six, Toxic Noxious Undeath. It has been a slightly longer wait than usual, but when the mastermind behind the project, Rogga Johansson, is involved in somewhere in the region of forty-five other active bands and projects, I think a mere six years since Songs In The Key Of Madness is a very reasonable time frame.
Megascavenger – Toxic Noxious Undeath
Release Date: 13 August 2026
Words: Jools Green
The Megascavenger plan remains the same. A collection of songs, the lyrics penned by Rogga with a different guest artist performing on each track and as with most of the predecessors, they are guest vocalists, all given free rein to modify the lyrical content slightly to suit their style as long as it stays within the remit of the album’s concept.
Also involved in this aural carnage is Johan Berglund on bass, who is also responsible for the mixing and mastering and Thomas Ohlsson delivering a seriously impressive, unrelenting drum battery.
This time around, the album revolves around the idea that “over months, years, decades…the poison so carelessly disposed of sinks down through the soil – bleaching, mutating, choking all that it touches. Slowly, slowly it descends deeper into the underworld, through layers of man’s detritus, through roots and rock and history, finally pooling in a place of the forgotten dead – the abandoned, the unmissed, unmourned, unloved.
“And here the poison works a different dark magic. Where it has killed the living, it brings a hideous parody of life to the dead. The toxins permeate the ragged flesh and mouldering bones and by some unholy alchemy, some ghastly, mindless sorcery, the inert bodies start to move…rising from their polluted resting place in a tainted miasma of corruption and decay, infused with a savage hunger and an implacable, unquenchable thirst for revenge.”
Toxic Noxious Undeath bursts into being with Graveyard Dreams And Bonehouse Screams, with Death Metal legend Kam Lee from Massacre, Bone Gnawer as the first guest. It is a brutal pounder on the whole, but one of the riff swathes does harbour a catchy groove, giving contrast to the raw driving ones that course in brutal harmony beneath Kam’s deep and equally brutal delivery. It is an absolute crushing beast of an opening track.
As the title suggests, Corpses Below continues with very dark, haunting undertones. The guest this time is Crematory’s Felix Stass. This is a densely layered track contrasted with haunting melodic swathes and with an often imposing drum battery which sits well with his raw, snarling delivery.
If there was a prize for best track title of the album, the next piece, Exploding Casket Syndrome, would be an outright winner and made me laugh more than I probably should have. It features a brutally guttural delivery from Vomitory’s Erik Rundqvist. This is a high-speed, insane, filthy driver, yet it still harbours small pockets of groovy catchiness, and the repeating blasts of squealing guitar work build on that crazy, explosive atmosphere.
It is the shortest piece on the album, but there is a lot packed into this two and a half minute time frame.
With its suitably ominous intro, Heading For The Furnace features Max Otero of Mercyless on vocals, who unleashes a raw, well-prolonged and expressive delivery. That ominous aspect reappears throughout this piece, which harbours a superbly sombre and dark feel despite being a deathly driver of a track.
A World Of Fire And Brimstone features Dave Ingram (ex: Benediction) on vocals. I love the gnarly repeating riff and dark, haunting melodic swathes to this track, which are great carriers for the vocal delivery.
Fleshburner Yearner opens as a crushing pounder of a track, levelling out and switching between an intense undulating drive and a slower sinister plod. The perfect carrier for Thorium’s Michael H. Andersen’s delivery, which moves between brutal growls and acidic snarls.
Maceration’s Jan Bergmann Jepsen features on the next piece, As Purgatory Ascends. A heavy crawler to open, the pace steadily builds to a driving repeat with superbly cavernous and protracted vocals that turn higher and more acidic briefly in the second half. A superbly smothering piece that oozes unease.
Title track Toxic Noxious Undeath features Silvester Koorevaar of Fondlecorpse on vocals, and the crushing, undulating drive across most of this piece suits Silvester’s very acidic low delivery, which is often protracted with menace. There is also a haunting repeat that breaks up the drive, reminiscent of those found on many of Rogga’s Furnace pieces, adding a reflectively melodic edge.
Penultimate offering Shallow Grave Overflow features the cavernous delivery of Avulsed’s Dave Rotten, snarling over a suitably sinister undulating drive punctuated with even eerier bursts.
Final offering The Morbid Rides Again features Peter Svensson on vocals, Rogga’s bandmate and the mind behind all those superb album lyrical concepts from Furnace and Heir Corpse One, as well as being involved in about another fifteen projects as well.
I love the catchy repeating riff that pops up across this piece, breaking up the undulating drive, punctuated by Peters’ searing and well-prolonged growls, making a superbly sinister finale to the album.
Toxic Noxious Undeath will be available as CD, limited edition vinyl, cassette or digital download via Xtreem Music and should be of great interest to fans of any of Rogga’s other endeavours.
