Necrophobic - Death to All   

It was fun but I doubt I’ll be returning

20 years is a long time for any band to be together, especially when that time is spent languishing in relative obscurity. Sweden’s (Stockholm) Necrophobic who formed in 1989 (though now only retain one original member in drummer Joakim Sterner) clearly haven’t let this get them down however and have continued to push out albums pretty regularly over the years. Death to All marks the band’s seventh full length release in their 20 year career.

Death to All is a slab of blackened death metal with a very distinctive Swedish sound, but don’t go expecting a blast fest as this is blackened death metal done the old school way. In fact the only contemporary element that I could pick up was the production. What you get are mid paced songs with lots of tremolo picked riffs, guitar solos and vocals in the mid range guttural vein that all seem to be focused on Satan. On a side note, I know this is only a personal preference but I can’t help but feel that Necrophobic have tied themselves to a sinking ship in many ways with their penchant for spiked leather apparel and a seemingly endless need to praise Satan. I realise that this has been Necrophobic’s bread and butter for a hell of a long time now but guys, it’s really time to let it go.

The material on Death to All is immediately accessible with the band wasting little time in getting their message across in each of the eight songs on the album. This swift delivery creates a feeling of urgency and forward momentum that helps the material flow well and also assists in creating the illusion that what you’re hearing is less retro sounding than it really is. In addition, Necrophobic definitely knows how to bring a great vibe to their music and they also know how to throw the occasional curve ball with the unexpected lead break in Revelation 666 or the acoustic passage late in the title track which is actually quite beautiful.

The problem with all of this though is that there isn’t any mystery about what these guys are doing. Everything is presented to the listener, plain as day, from the very first listen. There’s nothing that you’ll hear on repeated listens that you wouldn’t have picked up during the first. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself but for something like this to be successful the material must be strong enough to carry the weight and unfortunately, as enjoyable as it can be, the material on offer here just doesn’t warrant those repeated listens. It certainly isn’t bad, it just isn’t great.

Without any knowledge of the band’s output over their career I can’t speculate with any great certainty about why Necrophobic never received any great amount of attention - I can only go on what I hear on this, their latest album, and what I hear on Death to All is a genuinely enjoyable album that is instantly likeable but is also rather disposable due to a lack of any real standout material. In spite of this I have little doubt that existing fans of Necrophobic, or those that are addicted to the old school sound, will find Death to All to be a worthy addition to their collection.

(Regain Records/Riot! Entertainment)

Added: September 26th 2009
Reviewer: Michael O'Brien
Score:
Related Link: Official Website
Hits: 413