Hrimthursum

It was in 2006 that Swedish death/black metallers Necrophobic lavished their ambitious follow-up to the well-received Bloodhymns upon us. As opposed to the album preceding it, Hrimthursum is a much more varied effort. Whereas Bloodhymns contained songs that were all pretty much of the same ilk, Hrimthursum is made up of twelve (eleven without the intro) very distinct tracks, with "Blinded by Light ...", "I Strike With Wrath", "The Crossing" and "Eternal Winter" being shining examples of blistering Swedish blackened death metal mastery. Those would even hold their own on, say, Dissection's Storm of the Light's Bane, which is often considered a sort of measuring stick for that particular metal subgenre, and with good reason. "Eternal Winter" exemplifies this more than any other track, the almost incessant blast beats and relentless tremolo riffing conjuring up a freezing blizzard of hatred, malice and dark melodic majesty. Sheer brilliance, this one.

Tunes like "Age of Chaos", on the other hand, slow things down a bit, eschewing all-out mayhem for some slightly theatrical, gothic-inspired elements, something Necrophobic weren't really known for up to that point. The theatricality is even kicked up a notch for the oddly titled "Bloodshed Eyes", which features a cleanly sung male-choir section (!) accompanied by a very melodic guitar solo – daring and pretty unusual, but it works rather well, even though it may seem awkward at first. The overt theatricality and grandiose passages are new additions to the band's arsenal and show up again on the plodding, lava-like "Sitra Ahra" and the closing track and namesake of the album.

While these new elements are neither overdone nor compromising the overall brutality and viciousness of the music, Hrimthursum is clearly another case when less would have been even more. Truth be told, the four tracks succeeding "Eternal Winter" are more average than awesome and therefore not quite up to par with what came before. "Death Immaculate" seems almost bland following the (un-)godly "Eternal Winter", the trudging "Sitra Ahra" drags on for too long, and "Serpents" as well as "Black Hate" are crisper, shorter tracks – good enough, but ultimately failing to make a lasting impression. The latter is faster and more aggressive, while the former boasts a neat clanking bassline underneath the chorus, giving it some added texture. Luckily, the epic-sounding title track restores the album's former brilliance, again with a tinge of gothic due to some female background vocals.

Compared to the album that preceded it, Hrimthursum also offers much better production values. The drums, occasionally sounding like cardboard on Bloodhymns, are especially powerful and absolutely slay this time around. The guitar tone is also markedly different: where Bloodhymns had some of that typical buzzsaw sound so often found in Swedish death metal, the guitars on Hrimthursum have more of a black metal feel to them, their icy tone only befitting an album named after the frost giants of Nordic mythology. Even the bass is relatively audible, particularly during some of the slower sections, making its presence felt and adding an extra dimension to the overall sound. In all, Hrimthursum is a surprisingly crisp-sounding and polished affair, meaning fans of lo-fi black metal may not be overly thrilled.

As for singer Tobias Sidegård, he uses raspy, guttural vocals that occasionally include some high shrieks or deep growls, but his vocal style is kind of hard to pigeonhole. It is neither typically black nor death metal, more like a blend between the two. You can even understand the lyrics quite clearly, which is definitely a rarity in death or black metal. Anyway, that doesn't mean the vocals aren't plenty brutal, menacing and evil, because they certainly are.

Even though Hrimthursum, with a length of almost a full hour, isn't exactly concise and, due to a couple of merely okay tracks toward the end, tends to slightly wear out its welcome, it is still a shining example of Swedish black/death metal done right. If it consisted only of the first seven songs plus the title track, it would probably have to be considered a genre masterpiece. But even as it is, some minor flaws notwithstanding, it still has to be considered an excellent album and worthy addition to the record collection of anyone with at least a passing interest in melodic black/death metal.

Choicest cuts: Blinded by Light, Enlightened by Darkness; I Strike With Wrath; The Crossing; Eternal Winter; Hrimthursum

Sometimes I think that real art must be provocative, rebellious and disturbing. Yet this is not to say that I enjoy any form of provocation. Some things are simply idiotic. Does somebody ask for an example? Read the title of the first track of "Hrimthursum" and you know what I mean. In addition, the cries of the baby during the intro are disgusting as well. This intro is written by lead vocalist Sidegård. Back in 2006, I thought that he is just a very charismatic singer with a demonic aura. Today we know that he is also an antisocial thug. And so one thing leads to another.

That said, let's take a look at the advantages of Necrophobic's fifth full-length. No doubt, it is imbued with a hellish aura. The champions of black / death metal invite the listener to a journey through landscapes of gruesome images. Each and every song is built upon a diabolic fundament (and so it is a suitable album for my 666th review). Listen to the background choir of the tortured souls in "Age of Chaos" which reappears in the title track. Or lend an ear to the uncanny, solemn yet homicidal lead vocals in "Bloodshed Eyes". They characterize horrifyingly the central section of this track. Not to mention the razor-sharp riffing of the unrelenting album highlight "I Strike with Wrath" which is nothing less than an orgy of cold-blooded violence. Necrophobic demonstrate their technical skills and their song-writing abilities in an almost arrogant manner. No doubt, the Swedes are highly talented musicians - and with regard to their sinister art, they were seemingly born in a very dark and extremely cold winter night. And while we are on the subject of winter, "Eternal Winter" is the speed king of the twelve tracks. The band seems to be possessed by velocity and the rapid rhythms, combined with the typical high class riffing, shape another very strong song. Yet Necrophobic are not afraid of variations. They also convince while performing slower pieces.

The title track, for instance, chooses a mid-tempo approach. Its profound depth is based on the competent guitar work and the eerie chorus. The female background vocals that I have already mentioned lend the song its dramatic touch. "Sitra Ahra" seems to be a lame stinker in view of its nearly dawdling beginning, but inter alia the chorus sets a sharp contrast. The screaming guitar in the background causes sharp cuts that make this piece compatible with the remaining material. Speaking of the songs in general, Necrophobic's compositional talent leads to an almost immaculate symbiosis of catchiness and brutality. This is all the more remarkable given the fact that all band members have contributed to the material (although lead guitarist Ramstedt has written the lion's share of the compositions). The dudes avoid repetitive structures without being shy of relatively conventional verse-chorus-verse patterns. The tracks are always accessible. Better still, it is neither a tough job to get familiar with the album nor does one grasp every detail during the first or second listening session. "Hrimthursum", which is well balanced between extremely harsh and rather melodic parts, grows diabolically while heralding the imminent apocalypse.

Of course, a good production is always helpful and, to be honest, "Hrimthursum" sounds perfect, no more, no less. The transparency is not at the expense of atmosphere and features such as pressure, density, intensity and brutality are not missing as well. In short, the flaming artwork depicts the aura of the music successfully. It seems as if Necrophobic were focussed on a holistic approach. No doubt, the band has worked meticulously in every respect. The result is gargantuan and nothing less is acceptable for an album that hails the ice giants of the German mythology. Thus, join the black celebration of Necrophobic. If you have not yet listened to "Hrimthursum", then it is high time.

Blackened death metal bands aren't very numerous, and the good ones are even fewer. This band would be considered the one who started it all. The Nocturnal Silence was a landmark album for its time and even now is known to be one of the best Swedish black/death metal albums released alongside Storm of the Light's Bane. Unfortunately, this album really does little to hold up to the standard set by the band's earlier discography. This isn't a bad album, because it has one or two killer tracks, is just isn't spectacular. This album is only slightly better than Darkside, which, in my opinion, was boring as hell. Darkside was just your standard Swedish variety black/death metal which doesn't stand out much at all.

One thing that I must talk about first. . . vocals. I don't know what the hell was going on but Tobias really sounds like shit here. His usual black metal rasps are replaced by half ass shouts and powerless grunts. At least on Darkside he sounded like his usual self. Here he sounds like he started recording vocals right after a long, exhausting tour or right after someone punched him in the throat with brass knuckles. On the next album he sounds slightly better, but his vocals almost went downhill Dani Filth style. From good to decent to shit would've been what happened had he not recovered on Death to All. This is sort of irrelevant to this review but Tobias is part of another band called Trident and he sounded much better on that band's album that he did in years with his main band.

The songs and riffing themselves are actually pretty good. Unlike on Darkside, it looks like they spent a bit more time on songwriting itself rather than just throwing together a bunch of cool sounding riffs and calling it a day. They incorporate atmosphere and even acoustic passages in their music. The death metal influences here are pretty much gone aside from the downtuned guitars and distortion. The only real stand out track that I can safely say is one of my favorite blackened death metal songs is Blinded By Light, Enlightened By Darkness. The title of the song is long as hell and the lyrics are pretty uninspired, but the song itself is pretty damn good and is the opus magnum of this album.

The drumming isn't really even worth mentioning, so the fact that I'm even talking about it now is just to acknowledge its existence. Despite all of its numerous flaws, this album is still a good one and I wouldn't exactly skip over it if I were a fan of the Swedish extreme metal scene. The worst thing you could do is listen to this expecting a masterpiece or a truly excellent album. It ranges from mediocre to pretty good (with the exception of that one song I mentioned).

I've always felt like the music scene as a whole treats it's veteren bands with about the same amount of respect as soceity gives to it's senior citizens. We're all well aware that bands like Necrophobic were capable back in their early days, releasing classic album after classic album filled to the brim with the audial epitome of "evil", and we respect them enough to give them kudos for their persistance against the jaws of death and inevitable slavery to the vast expanse of clouded, ice-mountains of pure horror and hate known as telemarketry or even the dreaded bog of decaying hands rising up and slowly grabbing you, pulling you to unknown depths of horrific irrelevance known by some brave, yet eternally sad souls as the fry-cook at Shoney's, but inside we know the gold in this mine has long been squandered, and thus we cast our idols into a "nursing home", so to speak, where the congealed sadness plastered across the decaying walls is just enough to mask the smell of death that still permeates the atmosphere like a knife through butter.

Our idols are still around (well, some of them are!), but we would much rather stick to their younger, thinner, and more attractive counterparts. The albums everyone celebrates. Their modern incarnation is either reaching, with it's dying breathe, to re-vitalize it's career, only to be cast down and condemned as a "sell-out", or maintaining it's posture and refusing to step down to any, only to be branded "uninspired", and "nothing special", as fans pout on and on about how "they've released the same album over and over for a decade!". We simply do not have interest in our idols' attempts to remain relevant, and have no interest in being pleased by them again.

Necrophobic, however, didn't want to go to the nursing home, it seems. They were defiant, setting fire to the prison in which they were kept, watching on as lost spirits of ages past dance around them, having been freed of their soul-chains by the merciful, eternal flames. Very few bands, at any point in their career, especially so late into it, can thrash out an album of "Hrimsurthum"'s magnitude, and that's what makes this album so special to me. I've never heard anyone rant, rave, or obsess over this album, nor have I ever heard any word about it's existance prior to me finding a used copy in a record store, and thus I assumed it would amount to little more than an uninspired, forgettable, "late era" album. Man, I was a fucking idiot! (Still am, but as least I am enlightened about this, eh?!)

So thus, you can guess from high rating, and the ridiculous look of suprise that graced by beautiful, baby-fat covered face when the vocals were strong, the riffs were catchy and memorable, the structures were interesting and fresh, the solos were beautiful and fit the songs like a penis fits a vagina (star-crossed lovers, destined for one another at birth!), and the lyrics were imaginative and meaningful, but still blasphemous and not out-of-place. This album gave me a boner. I would totally fuck the hole in the center of the CD if my dick wasn't way too big to fit there!!

On and on this album goes, blasting through space and time, with each song serving it's own purpose. For instance, "Sitra Ahra" is a doomy, melodic epic that gives off the feeling of walking through a pitch-black cave with nothing but a torch to guide you, while "Eternal Winter", true to it's title, is a melodic, thrashing piece of blackened death metal insanity, giving off that feeling of watching in awe as an avalanche glides down a tall mountain towards a quiet village. Other songs, such as the epic title track, "Hrimsurthum", come across as sadistic chants of arcane cults in the deep woods of eternity, summoning the power of Satan to crush man-kind. One cool thing about this album is the use of keyboards, which gives this a very "gothic" feel at times, as if you're staring up at Nosferatu's castle in the 1922 film "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror", though it never takes a turn for the "Twilight mallcore" audience (as you would hear in something like, say, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica, or whatever other Twilight mallcore bands are infesting the modern metal scene!), and instead gives these songs a strong sense of depth that works well with the songs and makes them sound unique and adventurous, while still remaining focused on it's original purpose, and without veering off into unneccessary "progressive" passages that oh, so many bands feel are necessary nowadays!

While the music here isn't "inhuman", nor will you, at any point, wonder if the band members are indeed human or actually demons attempting to brainwash the listener into subserviance to their dark master, it still manages to retain a cool atmosphere. It isn't so complex after all. This album is, more or less, an album by a bunch of guys, who love death metal and love black metal, getting together in a room and jamming out some kickass, evil, thrashing tunes. Very few bands care enough to keep things that simple nowadays. It's all about being more "evil" than the last guy who was more "evil" than the last guy who was...you see where I'm going with this, hopefully. I just feel like this album is composed very well, with a strong "I don't give a fuck" attitude that somehow makes the blasting songs sound evil yet without bringing anything cliche into the equation.

The production isn't trashy, the riffs aren't repetitive, the vocals aren't manipulated in the studio to sound more "demonic", the drums aren't focused entirely on blast beats, nothing on this album is trying to "outdo" anything else. It's just good music. And, fuck, just look at that artwork! Good, fun, thrashing blackened death metal for people who truly love metal. For those of you who prefer to stick to the early albums and pretend the later ones never existed, go right ahead and do that. I won't judge you. However, just know that anyone who doesn't buy this album isn't allowed in our little club, and will thus be subjected to horrific nightmares and terrifying tortures which shall haunt the mind, consantly annoying and poking at it: "Will you buy that album he mentioned? Will you buy that album he mentioned? Will you buy that album he mentioned? WILL YOU BUY THAT ALBUM HE MENTIONED? WILL YOU BUY THAT ALBUM HE MENTIONED?". Then your head explodes. Deal with it.

Necrophobic's overall sound on their fifth full-length is very much in the same tradition as their post-'Nocturnal Silence' material. Melodic (non-Gothenburg) death metal with some black metal elements incorporated.

'Hrimthursum' is essentially a 'step up' for the band in a few ways. The album is noticably faster than anything they've put out in the last 10 years. Emphasis goes to the more aggressive first half of the album. Also of note is the glossy, professional production. Cleaner production turns out to be complimentary to Necrophobic's already dark and epic feel.

What Necrophobic fans have come to expect throughout their discography is, as previously stated, still there. These are professional musicians who take great care in their composition and instrumentation. The end result being a memorable and well executed string of death metal albums, Hrimthursum included.

There are 'cons' to be found here... The album is too long at 59+ minutes. Removing 10-15 minutes from the album could have cleared out 2-3 of the less interesting tracks (Death Immaculate and Serpents, for example.)

While this is in my Top 5 Best Albums of 2006... I find it appealing only as an addition to this bands legacy and in comparison to the lack of interesting death metal that was released that year. This is, in many ways, an album for the established Necrophobic fan who does not cringe at the thought of their 'Darkside' to 'Bloodhymns' material. The uninitiated should always start at a band's inception, and The Nocturnal Silence has not been overshadowed by any means.

Standout tracks: The Crossing, I Strike With Wrath

What needs to be said, needs to be said, i.e. Necrophobic are NOT death metal they are black metal. In fact Necrophobic are probably only described death metal on this site because they say they are death metal on their site. I mean c’mon, they have anti-Christian, sometimes Satanic lyrics, high pitched screams (not the deep growls of death metal) are in love with pentagrams (see their site) and finally what kind of death metal band would be scared of death? Also Necrophobic would an alright name if you were a black metal band, but I digress...

I am really glad I downloaded this album. This album really disappointed me. I have heard some other Necrophobic songs and they were on the good side of things. Well planned and rehearsed, not like this album which seems rushed. It's as if they were running out of money and needed to record a new album, so they rushed it. The riffs are sloppy and uninteresting and while there is plenty of variety in the songs, they are never really interesting. Sure, the music is fast, but that doesn't necessarily mean the songs are very interesting. The only real song where half of Necrophobic's potential is reached is "I Strike with Wrath". Here we have some interesting riffs and some cool solos (more on the solos later) but overall there was nothing which grabbed my attention.

However, on this album we have what is arguably Necrophobic's best song, Black Hate! The song starts with a promising kick ass riff and Tobias manages to pull off a good vocal performance on this song. There is also an awesome solo on it that is fucking insane. Here we find the elements which made Necrophobic good: originality, skill and passion.

The solos, well for the most part the solos are good, however they aren't very original. What I mean by that is: it sounds like they listened to Opeth's Blackwater Park, copied the basic structure of the solos and changed some of the notes around. But hey, it blows life into some pretty ordinary songs, so I'll give them credit for that.

The synths are really cheesy, probably the worst part of the album. "The Crossing" starts off OK, but when the synths start, man does it kill the song or what? It makes the song sound really clichéd and downright stupid. The synths aren't as bad on other songs, but they are still cheesy. Overall, the songs without the synths were wayyy better and even then none of the songs were really great.

The vocals just suck. For the most part he’s just yelling and going GRRR on the end to try and disguise the fact he's just yelling. You don't even need to read the lyrics, even to the most untrained ear, it's easy to understand what he's saying. The vocals aren't delivered with any sort of passion. There is no anger or hatred in his vocals; it's just him yelling away. All in all he doesn't give very convincing performance. There are also some clean vocals on this album. Now, I always say clean vocals are always a good thing unless you are god damn awful at singing. Tobias is an OK singing, but there was this really annoying AWWWWWW in harmony with his singing. They were probably thinking it made it more melodic or something, but it actually makes it worse. However if you sorta block out that "AWWWW" sound then the clean vocals really aren't that bad.

To conclude, I was pretty disappointed with this album. I was really eager to listen to this album because I had heard some good things about Necrophobic. I wouldn't totally close my mind to Necrophobic though, if you listen to this album and don't like it much then I suggest you check out another album and judge them on that. I am very glad I got this album for free. Get this only if you are a die hard Necrophobic fan.

Highlights: I Strike with Wrath, Black Hate

(Originally written on the: February 15th, 2007).

Necrophobic has always been one of those elusive Swedish death metal bands that are often heard of but never listened to. The lack of reviews on one of the most respectable metal sites in the world is more than ample proof. With their Dissection comparisons and melodic fusions with Swedish death metal that IS NOT GOTHENBURG. Always labeled as more of a Slayer influenced cult band in their earlier days I was rather hesitant when someone mentioned that their new album was one of the best representations of death/black metal based on melodic structures in a long time. Let me tell you new Slayer sounds like pixie dust in comparison to Hrimthursum.

Hrimthursum is dark, evil, death, black, cold and with even a few shades of folkloric atmosphere to top it all off. Most of all the guitar riffs absolutely slay. This album offers a vast array of deathly compositions. This is quite rare in this stagnant style of music. I have heard this album being labeled epic death metal although it can be very melodic due to the variety of incredible riff structures I prefer to think of it as melodic death/black metal the way our beloved metal gods would see it. Epic sounds far too castrated for this absolute riff monster of an album.

The production is crystal clear and conveys the proper atmosphere for head banging metal music. The plethora of riffs at the forefront combined with the deathly vocals without being drowned out by blast beats or other rhythmic problems. Rest assured this album has thrash riffs, death riffs, impending doom riffs and black metal riffs and not of the faux half ass kind you’ll find on your local metalcore station. Even a few acoustic sprinkles and operatic vocals painted a very morbid contrast with death vocals, which aren’t done gratuitously. This is an album of experienced musicians firing on all cylinders. The drums are always aggressive and well played but only overbearing on certain sections. The rhythm guitar just shatters all in its path with some excellent guitar solos included in every song. The vocals are deathly shrieks of horror not even suited for the deep burning abyss. This album will easily make it on my top 3 albums of 2006 and I strongly recommend anyone even slightly interested in any of what has been mentioned or maybe even hmm METAL to check their myspace and figure out why.