20 years ago, when Death Metal and Grindcore was saturating the underground, Necrophagia were often mentioned in the same breath as bands like Possessed, Necrovore, Death, Morbid Angel and Repulsion as being influential to the music and aesthetic of the bands advancing this style at the time. More recently – though this band’s early output is not quite as formative as the others’ – the impact of 1987′s ‘Season of the Dead’ seems to be somewhat understated. This may be due to the extensive mediocrity of their discography that followed, or the attention given to the highly popular Death’s ‘Scream Bloody Gore’ released in the same year, equally influential in that sphere of Metal. Looking back at Necrophagia’s debut album, we can hear purposeful, morbid music that takes the juvenile primitivism of their demo material to a better level of organisation. Sounding like a slightly one-dimensional Possessed regressing back to ‘Haunting the Chapel’-era Slayer, Necrophagia use a shivering up-tempo strum to frame old school riff contortions and schizophrenic solos within the ritualistic scattering of bones sound that the drumming evokes. Killjoy’s vocals are a tamer version of Jeff Walker’s, but nevertheless gurgle the maniacal rantings of a serial killer, indicting the modern world that has transformed him into this monster. A rendition of Mussorgsky’s ‘A Night On Bare Mountain’ reveals the height of atmosphere they were attempting to acheive, to create a relevant and very Metal soundtrack to scenes of amoral, post-apocalyptic horror. Almost resembling the germination of what would become the unessential ‘Eaten Back to Life’ by Cannibal Corpse, ‘Season of the Dead’ does more to render that album totally useless and help Necrophagia stand out alongside the other proto-Death Metal legions as one of the American founding fathers.
Filed under: Death Metal Music Reviews — Tags: Death Metal, Grindcore, Speed Metal — ObscuraHessian @ July 25, 2009 21:33 — Comments (4)
HAIL OLD SCHOOL DEATH METAL!!!
Comment by ┼felix┼ — July 29, 2009 @ 10:55
HAIL NECROPHAGIA!!!
Comment by ┼felix┼ — July 29, 2009 @ 10:56
Spewing forth an inferno of carnage!
Comment by markm — August 3, 2009 @ 15:35
exelente super brutal y tecnico a la vez armamando melodias super filosas exlente trabajo soy de formosa argentina
Comment by dario maza — August 15, 2009 @ 03:21