ALBUM REVIEW: Necromante – XI

Brazilian Black / Death Metal mystics NECROMANTE return with their 2nd full length album, out via Iron Bonehead Productions on March 25th.

Starting with an ancient-sounding introduction and spoken word, the album instantly give off those early South American and Hellenic Black Metal energies, filled with mysticism and the occult. Guitars and drums rip into life with a cascade of blast beats and eerie riffing that fills the air with a creepy atmosphere, pierced by maniacal snarling vocals. Galloping riffs utilise the same traditional Heavy Metal elements that gave the Greek bands such a unique sound and injects a really powerful energy into the music while the extremity is still unbroken. With a subtle use of melody while retaining a savage, bestial aggression, there is no denying the masterfully crafted music has a powerful and demonic presence that is not easy to escape. The way this record launches into a devilish display of magnificence demands respect and the quality of the music does not lose this impactful nature, rather it grows and mutates further.

Intense and bludgeoning, this stuff is as violent as it gets while having nuance and delicate moments that feel carefully placed upon a lumbering behemoth of primitive rhythmic battery. The result, especially when coupled with the very unpolished production and raspy vocals, is a natural and authentic sound of mystifying and bewildering Black Metal triumph. Fans of Mystifier, Mortuary Drape, Root and other bands with that mysterious and diverse sort of sound will revel in the splendour that Necromante offer with their diabolical and destructive soundscapes. Funereal moments subside for a landslide of obliterating chaos to break through before rocking out with some catchy riff and simple beat. Then we might be thrown some classic Heavy Metal melodies or eerie doomy moments out of nowhere. These elements are but a few pieces of the palette that Necromante use to deliver some truly awe-inspiring Extreme Metal, packed with diversity, dynamics and a tense, foreboding and evil atmosphere.

Lurking in the subterranean dungeons of Brazil, this mysterious opus has that glorious feeling like a lost gem of the past, which it easily could be. Wearing their influences proudly on their sleeves while crafting a convincing and genuine album with conviction, there is a perfectly evil middle ground here that Necromante understand and unleash triumphantly. Absolutely phenomenal.