11

What are they called again?

There is no way on this earth I can read the band's logo. Because of this first statement you know we're back into extreme metal territory. Even with Windows Media Player giving me the name of the band, I STILL can't make out the name Necrophobic in the logo. Either way it looks gothic, macabre and baroque, which is quite indicative of the whole album.

The sickly titled opener 'The Slaughter of Baby Jesus' is an excellent build up to what's to follow. Baby cries, choirs and a tom rhythm, all lead on seamlessly to the excellent 'Blinded By Light, Enlightened By Darkness.' The crisp, powerful production hits you like a hammer blow. Like most death metal/black metal bands, the production is fairly light allowing the barrage of pulsating drumming and complex riffage to hit home with thumping ferocity. The track 'I Strike With Wrath' can be more prophetic in this case, vocalist Tobias Sidegard is eerily clear, as almost all of his lyrics are sung with an odd clarity rarely heard in this type of music. His clever intonation and use of inflections allow for some simple but effective growled melody, if something like this can exist.

After a majestic piano ride out, 'Age of Chaos' impresses with a lavish choir and keyboard backing. But then gets a little disturbed as a crying woman replaces the conventional guitar solo. I think this demonstrates the magic of this release. It runs in the face of convention, being innovative without losing the key elements of metal and the acceptable theatrics that go with it. 'Bloodshed Eyes' in particular contains a superb middle section. It slows, empties of drums, before building once more, accompanied by a choir of male voices.

The excellent 'The Crossing' is another highlight, most notably because of its slow two-minute melodic solo tagged on the end. After such an explosion of noise, it's nice to hear such extreme music played in such a way that doesn't lose focus, direction or empty the song of its credibility.

If I was going to suggest criticism towards Necrophobic, then it would be in two areas. The first is in the guitar work. Although solid and extremely well played, the whole experience could have benefited from a little more interesting, intricate trade offs between Sebastian Ramstedt and Johan Bergebäck. I understand only Sebastian plays lead guitar, but I felt there was room for a few harmonies and some axe duelling leads. Maybe an idea for the future perhaps. It certainly doesn't take anything away from the music, it could just add an extra dimension to the band's sound (But then again, I have been listening to Anata for the past two weeks.). The second area is the length of the album. Twelve tracks is good value for money, however I think Hrimthursum would have been a more complete and a satisfying listening experience if a couple of tracks were omitted, but then again, I wouldn't like to suggest which two.

After recently reviewing Anata and Setherial, I find it a total injustice that such bands, as well as Necrophobic, go largely unheard of, when musically they're no heavier than bands gracing the 'flavour of the month' magazines found in your local newsagents. Whilst many bands fail to write a handful of decent tunes, voting to constantly re-write their most popular 'video' instead, the real innovation and metal skill lie in the underground genres of this world, as they irrevocably do, and arguably, have always done.