Anyone into extreme metal over the last 30 years or so will be familiar with Sweden’s Necrophobic, their long history is testament to their ever enduring ability to release one captivating album after another. Indeed the band broke the black metal formula that was riding a wave back in the late 80s and early 90s to craft what we call the blackened death metal subgenre and with spectacular results on every album the band has released subsequently. Following a band for this long you get to know its intricacies and nuances and Necrophobic, whilst having the blackened death template, has always injected something creative or unexpected into every album they have released. This is the bands tenth album and whilst their release rate has never been formidable over the years it is a case of quality over quantity that wins out here.

Album number ten still has the bands trademark causticity that was formulated on early releases, indeed without it you could say it wouldn’t really be a Necrophobic album, but distilled into the fabric of all the songs is something more atmospheric, something deeper and more tangible as ‘Grace Of The Past’ launches the album off in excellent fashion. The crisp acerbic guitar sound affords the opener a wealth of corrosive savagery as the blast beat forays elevate the violence skywards leading to an avalanche of vitriolic intensity that pervades not just the opener but the release as a whole. ‘Clavis Inferni’ continues the onslaught as the intensity escalates further merging some double kick fluidity to proceedings to ramp up its accessibility.

‘As Stars Collide’ is immense, its calm eerie opening unveils an ominous side to the album with those atmospherics I mentioned earlier as I felt there was a slight Viking metal slant on the riffing and melody. The harsh sulphuric vocal tone matches the unbridled brutality brilliantly as the song unleashes a wave of riff breaks into the mix. That intensity I referenced is unrelenting at times as ‘Stormcrow’ shows, the blackened malice oozes from its riffage and is linked superbly to the excellent lead break. At over seven minutes long ‘Shadows Of The Brightest Night’ is the first of two epic numbers on the album. The song is fabulous from start to finish as it begins with an isolated guitar piece that links in some double bass producing a very catchy opening sequence to the song. It is majestically epic in all aspects as the tune eventually stamps on the velocity into blasted realms cohesively and with insurmountable terror. I felt the song was theatrical in some respects, not due to any additional components but just the way it weaves its way around a multitude of riffs and tempos as this one is also embellished with an awesome lead break.

Atmospheric and saturated in wrath ‘Mirrors Of A Thousand Lakes’ continues the barrage as I especially enjoyed the old school left and right channel change on the guitar work on the opening. Again it is drenched in causticity as the biting sound afforded makes the song that bit more hostile and bitter. Blasting in is ‘Cast In Stone’ a typical Necrophobic track that fans of their older material can relate to with ease as the second epic tune appears via the title track at nearly eight minutes. Beginning with a slower opening salvo the song layers on its riffs like glacial shards as the piercing aura of the guitar work makes the tune potently pernicious yet extremely catchy too. The sequential escalation in power doesn’t go unnoticed either as it eventually morphs into a thunderous beast of a track leaving the album to close with an outro of sorts called ‘Ascension (Episode Four)’ which I assume continues from similarly titled tracks that appeared on the bands ‘Darkside’ album from 1997.

Necrophobic return with yet another stellar blackened death metal assault, one that is sure to feature in many end of year lists in 2024. Awesome stuff indeed!

(9/10 Martin Harris)

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