Necrophobic - Death to All (2009)

Necrophobic has always been a standout of the Swedish death metal scene, even at their very lowest (The Third Antichrist) they were capable of delivering the goods. Previous album Hrimthursum was a scorching return to form, and Death to All is another. This is fast as fuck old school Swedish death with an occult aesthetic and snarling vocals that should also curdle the blood of the black metal afficionado.

"Celebration of the Goat" opens with creepy guitar intonations before the searing maw of hell widens and devours you. Though caustic and brutal, Necrophobic go one deeper with a nigh constant stream of melodic despair. "Revelation 666" and "La Satanisma Muerte" do not let up, the former a blast of melodic evil and the latter a more rugged, thrashing exercise. I was laughing at the title "For Those Who Stayed Satanic", but not the track itself, a grim grinder with some eerie, bleeding melodies and chants. "Temple of Damnation" and "The Tower" continue the onslaught of the first three tracks, but "Wings of Death" slows for a mid-paced battery. The title track is the last and possibly best thing on this album, almost 9 minutes of hellish abandon and arterial spray.

Emotional outburst beyond human sense
Eletric we hold to unite
The scent of your skin, the grace of your soul
Together we trepass the light

Death to All is crisp and incendiary, with each track exploding into existence, or teasing you for a few seconds and THEN exploding. Tobias Sidegård has really come into his own as the vocalist of this band, and the mix of this album truly captures that occult beauty of Darkside. I am once again impressed by the unswerving character of this band, and Death to All is further evidence of one of the better occult black/death acts in the world.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (in a shroud of human skin)

http://www.necrophobic.net/

Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence (1993)

There are classic albums and there are cult albums. The Nocturnal Silence is both, one of the best early statements of the Swedish death metal uprising of the early to mid 90s. Unlike a Left Hand Path though, this one wasn't an instant personal attraction. It took several years to develop on me, but one drunken evening I was listening to it with a friend at university and it suddenly dawned on me...this is awesome.

Necrophobic tend towards the occult side of the death metal spectra, with grim lyrics about hell and vile philosophies. They have a similar guitar tone to their contemporaries, but otherwise do not sound quite the same as far as how they present their riffs. I once thought this album was a rambling mess, but it is in fact pinpoint in its delivery of grinding guitars and the barking of ex-vocalist Anders Strokirk. The album is produced by the infamous Tomas Skogsberg so you know what to expect.

As a complete work The Nocturnal Silence is extremely consistent, each of the nine tracks destroys. "Awakening" begins with some spooky keyboards, soon joined by some slower leads before the churning guitars herald the apocalypse. Simple old school death rhythms commence a dark mood on the diabolic "Before the Dawn". "Unholy Prophecies" has a few rhythms which recall Slayer when they were good. The title track begins with haunted acoustics, again building into a grim lead melody. "Inborn Evil" has a slower groove to it, while "The Ancient's Gate" starts with the sickest groove on the album. Also of note are the barbaric and fast-paced "Sacrificial Rites" and the creepy "Where Sinners Burn".

Though the album has been remastered, it still sounds great in its original form. There is nothing overly polished about it, it simply manages to retain a dark intonation that many death metal albums only wish they could have. So often we forget what the pure evil of this genre used to sound like, jaded from endless overdubbed albums with focus on technical precision to the detriment of atmosphere. The Nocturnal Silence remains my favorite of Necrophobic's albums, and a true relic of extreme Swedish metal.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (leave the spell of Christ)

http://www.necrophobic.net/