Yet another project of Rogga Johansson this time in collaboration with The Master Butcher (Ronald Jimenez) of Morbid Stench from Costa Rica previous to which the duo has released an EP and one split (with Morbid Stench) in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Like any Rogga project it is all about death metal and its various guises and this guise has its face buried within the dirty death metal side of things.
If, like me, you have compiled a Roggapedia of sorts of all the bands he has been in then you know that every single one of them has a nuance within death metal, something different from the other bands he has been in or is involved in and Necrogod is no different. The vehicle this time is one in which The Master Butcher and Rogga prefer to take you down a trench of groove filled heaviness but without diluting the brutality or violence. Whether Necrogod is one of the heftiest of Rogga’s bands is down to your particular preference but it’s certainly up there with the likes of Paganizer, Those Who bring The Torture, Putrevore and other similar acts he’s been involved in. Within this act Rogga plays all instruments, bass, guitar and drum programming and The Master Butcher does the vocals with stunning results on this debut release that hopefully will be a long-term project for the duo.
There is an intrinsic filth to this album that crosses continents, opener ‘Bringers Of Blasphemy’ exemplifies this the moment its riff scrapes its abrasive claws across your torso and face and leaves its grimy scars behind. Everyone into their grubby death metal will love the sound here, fans of early Carcass, General Surgery for Euro centric side and Exhumed for gore filled transatlantic side will get their kicks out of tunes like ‘In Mortal Confinement’ as the deep vocal roars come at you like a feral beast salivating with a rabid maniacal glint in the eye. The lack of finesse is one I always savour as the flaying corrosiveness also possesses cool riff changes that rear up again on ‘The Brutal Path (Straight To Hell)’ which has some straight up gore metal like comparisons with its it pumping no nonsense brutalising ferocity.
Slowing down to grind you to a pulp is ‘Remain The Same Again’ where the song takes on some Bolt Thrower warring onslaught I found absorbing that reappears on ‘In The Reign Of Gore’ where the invasive riff incursion really penetrates the song backed by half blasted tempos but still ultra-catchy. With an eerie opening ‘When Madness Has Taken Control’ offers a doom-death style and it is this variation that makes ‘In Extremis’ such a cool album to listen to and to some degree Necrogod is one of Rogga’s most diverse releases to date. With vocals that crawl along an abyssal plain the song has a cavernous quality and contrasts with the grind like qualities of ‘Moribund’ before the album closes with ‘Transcending To Persist’. With a screeching guitar insertion that possesses a degree of creepiness the track diverts into a slow double kick that plunges it into a miasmic gravitas as again I got a sense of Bolt Thrower here.
Necrogod is awash with ideas, Rogga and The Master Butcher’s debut album is a masterclass of caustic death metal annihilation.
(9/10 Martin Harris)
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