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After a four-year hiatus Necrophobic returns with the latest CD called "Hrimthursum" ("The Frost Giants" in the old Norse texts). With a production team of Necrophobic and engineers Fredrik Folkare and Anders Bentell. This is the band's fifth CD in the 10+ years they've been shredding up Sweden and other parts of a needy planet.
For a little background for newcomers, Necrophobic was spawned in 1989 and were oft compared to the likes of Bathory, early Carcass and Morbid Angel. Since then the band has carved its own niche in the unhallowed halls of dark metal service. The last CD, Bloodhymns, was released in 2002 and sine then fans have been waiting (im)patiently for some evil tunes to lay praise. The CD's first song is an intro titled "The Slaughter of Baby Jesus" and the faint cries of a baby in the background while tribal drums and a brooding synthesizer only set the stage for pure evil to come! Already it sounds like a soundtrack to the Omen trilogy; the into is really strong so far and the song is heavy as, forgive me, hell! If this is an indication of what's to come I'm feeling pretty damn evil…. "Blinded by Light" is next and it lays a quick kick to the head and an even quicker blow to the stomach! Heavy doesn't describe it! I hear such similarities to the mighty Kreator and Celtic Frost, with a bit of early Mayhem and Dissection thrown in for even more evilness. The production is great on this CD so far and as far as I'm concerned this sound is what should harken back to the days of old where black metal is concerned. This is the formula Venom set the seeds for, but could never quite perfect. Fast, brutal, evil and dark – a metal song at its darkest! Track three is titled "I Strike with Wrath" and it reminds me of an old 80s metal band's title, so I'm ready for anything! The song has a real 80s feel to it and has some great time changes and riffing going on that I'm so damn impressed with it's sickening! Necrophobic seem to have the Swedish sound so down pat that Quorthon is smiling down from Valhalla with a gleam in his eye. Wow, what a tremendous wall of sound that hits at the 4:05 mark! The song begins unrelenting and heavy and doesn't let up until the slight improvisation at the end. This may well be one of the metal masterpieces of the year if we're not careful. "Age of Chaos" picks up the pace and really has the Kreator feel intertwined within its structure. This song has a real atmosphere about it, if that makes sense. It just seems to carry out of the speakers and into the large air, filling it with metal at its finest. Any song that gives atmosphere is poetry in a poem and this is romantically haunting. I know it's not a term used in black metal vibes, but it works. You'll see what I mean. Damn, damn impressive! "Bloodshed Eyes" is the fifth track. It spits out like a Sodom track and has the very classic Scandinavian black metal sound we've all come to love or loathe. As opposed as I've always been to keys in metal music (except in the rarest of circumstances) my old age and desire for new things must have gotten to me. The general feel is everything Dead from Mayhem tried to out across but simply didn't. That said, picture a lonely dark road in Sweden with a heavy snowfall blinding your way into more deep black and this is your soundtrack! Next up: "The Crossing". It's very heavy on the musical scenery and brutality without saturating the music. I can certainly see the influence of the early pioneers (Frost and the German scene) in the music and it's awesome to hear bands pay homage to the old Vikings while maintaining its own style and sound in a sea of wannabes that fall flat! And a black metal band that mixes the bass properly?? Amazing! "Eternal Winter" bends the spine and breaks the neck when it slams out of the stereo! True heavy metal that is as modern as it is ancient in its design. The riff is a shredding assault with no hold barred! Just brutal and metal perfection! "Death Immaculate" automatically has a "Flag of Hate" feel to it, but suddenly drops right into Necrophobic! I'm really impressed with the unapologetic metal issued on this CD! This is what's missing in the "mall" metal community these days and they will simply never get it because it reeks of talent and depth. "If you look into the sky--/for your soul's salvation--/I put my hope into the fire--/for my soul's damnation—" Hell yes!! "Sitra Ahra" has a slow groove of crunching metal to it that is as close to a slowdown as you will come…case closed! Heavy, heavy, heavy! When the slight acoustic section literally pops up at you it is metal perfection! Track ten is "Serpents" and it's pretty much what the rest of this damn CD has been: amazing!! It's so good to find metal music that is faultless and (so far) this CD is faultless! "Black Hate" sounds pretty damn self-explanatory, doesn't it? I hear a lot of De Mysteriis in this track, and I mean a LOT! Not taking anything away from Necrophobic, the tracks is pure Norwegian black metal in its finest stage. Damnit!! The last track!!! Well, it's called "Hrimthursum", the title track to this masterpiece! Ah, just know it's awesome and buy it!!! Okay, now for the real funny part of all of this, which I purposely didn't mention in my opening paragraph: I know well who Necrophobic is, but until today had never heard a full CD! I just chalked it up to "typical black metal" with no real substance or direction…and I was wrong. I'll be looking up their back catalog (as we speak) and I'm able to say they have a new fan (thanks, Angel!). This CD is one of the best CD's I've heard from the black/extreme metal pool in a very long time and I now realize that everything I used to think is narrow-minded and ill-informed when one doesn't bother to give something a chance. I grew up on old school Venom, Hellhammer, Frost, etc…I was there for the church-burning garbage in Norway in the early 90s and I had black metal left for dead within the ashes of Asane Church. Yep...I was wrong. Buy this CD and discover... | |
