This is certainly an EP of two halves and a rather strange one too. Necropolissebeht are a collaboration between German and Canadian members Hekla (Hadopelagyal), Axaazaroth (Nuclearhammer) and errr Ryan. Now Ryan may not have wanted to play the gateway to hell, demonic entity name game but the guitarist has already proven credentials as member of Blasphemy, ex of Conqueror and owner of label Ross Bay Cult! That gives you some clue of what this is going to sound like, well in part at any rate.
Described as black and death metal its truer origins are with that that most militant of sub-genres known as war metal. As ‘Desecratedivine’ thuds in and roars away that is most certainly the impression one gets here courtesy of drumming vocal spewer AX. This is nasty, bestial and sounds like it is recorded in a cave as it bounces and brutally batters away with yells of primitive abuse echoing from every nook and cranny. It’s left to Hekla to provide main guitar and backing curses, you can just about distinguish the former along with Ryan’s leads and as for those slightly higher yells over the low gruff roars, they add a noticeable definition. That said though it does sound like a bunch of Neanderthals have been given tools and things don’t improve as the spasming sound of ‘Scepter of Pharmakeia’ warps and shudders out the speakers. If speakers could talk, they would probably be saying as we hit third chapter ‘Colossi of Memnon’ “we were never designed for this racket” and spontaneously combust. By now your ears may feel the same way and somewhere in deep darkest Egypt statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III are crumbling due to the sonic devastation wrung out here. This is definitely an acquired taste and even by themes and stygian atmosphere I can’t see Nile welcoming these tomb defilers on tour with them when they pop into town. Still if an unmitigated racket is what you like there will be no complaints here.
Having shattered nerves over these numbers which with a combined 13 minute or so running time is about as much as mortal man could take in one hit, there’s an about turn. ‘Θῆβα’ is a chilling piece of rumbling dark ambient that wafts like the fetid touch of a long dead civilisation over a soundscape of 7-minutes. The two styles here couldn’t be more different but somehow for me it works. There is an overall concept here and they both seem to embrace it. It’s kind of like being mauled by a sphinx and then licked better afterwards and ultimately best experienced yourself via the link below as far as judgement is concerned.
(7/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply