Chaopula - Citadel of Mirrors

There never were that many Spanish death metal bands from the early 90's which I would really like. Yes, I can mention Avulsed, Rotten Flesh, Sacrophobia or Unbounded Terror - they were all pretty good, but far from being my favourites. The Spanish scene was just very mediocre. But there's one band, which I think was better than all the other. Necrophiliac! Certainly I can say that they are my favourite Spanish band from these old days and their "Chaopula - Citadel of Mirrors" album from 1992 is the best thing which Spain has unleashed back then. Originally put out by Drowned Productions, "Chaopula..." offered a very fine dose of sick death metal played the Scandinavian way, so maybe this is why I enjoyed - and I still do - this album so much. Because it's my most preferred sound! In 2014 a vinyl version of this legendary album came out from The Crypt Productions and I have to say that it was a mandatory purchase for me. And I got everything I imagined from this release. A nice gatefold cover with the layout that is very, very close to the original LP – I like when it's done this way!! There're some cool archive photographs, lyrics, bonus material on the second vinyl... This is how such reissues should always be like in my opinion. For that, I give this vinyl repress an honest 10/10.

Presentation aside, I have to say that after all these years, I still like "Chaopula - Citadel of Mirrors" a lot. This album may sound slightly archaic nowadays, especially with that messy, harsh production, but it doesn't affect the listening and I enjoy the music totally. As I mentioned, Necrophiliac sounded quite a lot like Scandinavian band, with many Swedish-esque riffs or melodic accents in the music, which are always so characteristic fpr Sweden. But Finnish and Danish death metal must have also influenced these guys strongly, if you think of these more gory, sick and darker fragments of "Chaopula...". Especially the vocals sound quite nasty, Bongo came up with many different growls, beastly vomits or shrieks, but the effect is awesome and gives the music a sicker, more brutal and repulsive character. These diverse vocals fit the riffs very well, especially when their styles and atmosphere changes from gory brutal stuff to more doomy and melodic. And with songs like "Gorefruit Treasure" or "Necrotic Narcosis", I can just assure you that we deal here with cool classic death metal. The drumming is slightly sloppy, the production could have also been better, to be honest, because sometimes the music sounds just messy and even have a primitive feel. But I cannot say that it would have a negative impact on these songs or on how I perceive the music. As I already mentioned, I like this album, it doesn't get boring for me.

With this awesome LP from The Crypt, I finally had a killer opportunity to listen to some Necrophiliac demos also. You can find here the "Infernal Exorcism" demo from 1988 and "Visceral Fruit" demo from 1991 on side C and D. I never had a chance to listen to them before, so this is why I appreciate such bonus material on the second vinyl. As I write this despite the fact that not always these demos are really good. For instance "Infernal Exorcism" is nothing really special, stylistically it's very different to "Chaopula...", more thrash / death oriented, much much more primitive and obscure than the album. It's listenable and interesting from the historical point of view, but not as good for its strict musical aspect. "Visceral Fruit" is slightly better, but again we can hear that they were rather first attempts to achieve anything interesting, quality wise, not just production, but also the way these songs have been played, is just far from what we can find on the album. And mind that most of these songs have been used for the "Chaopula..." Also. So, I cannot say that I've been much impressed by this demo content of Necrophiliac, I'll rather treat it as a nice bonus, not necessarily something really worth listening to. Nevertheless, a fine vinyl reissue from The Crypt, definitely nice to have it in my collection!!

Standout tracks: "Gorefruit Treasure", "Necrotic Narcosis", "Depressed in Crimson Climax", "Image Control In Biosphere of Unreal"
Final rate: 75/100

Title: A decent effort, but it's not really that great
Rating: 58%

This is a decent sounding death metal album from 1992. Necrophiliac are a very obscure death metal band. I believe all diehard listeners of death metal should listen to Necrophiliac at least once. They're not a very stupendous band at all. This isn't an essential album to get, but it is if you're a death metal maniac. It has song titles that make them sound like they're cool, but it doesn't help at all.

This is pretty much a really raw and nasty album. This sounds really grimy and disgusting beyond all recognition. It's typical death metal for its time. This album features some totally deep vocals and they remind me of the vocals found on General Surgery's Necrology EP. The vocals kind of remind me of Nunslaughter's vocals too. There are times where vocal echo effects are used in songs, but it doesn't add pizzazz or anything. A keyboard is also used on this album to make themselves sound different and unique. It doesn't really help them out that much.

I believe a pitch shifter is being used. It is not put to great use at all. There's definitely some vocals that cannot physically be done, I can tell you that right off the bat. The drumming is really great and persistent. The guitars are pretty good. There are some great riffs featured throughout the songs. The pinch harmonics are placed well. I love death metal with pinch harmonics.

Gorefruit Treasure is the first song and it features pitch shifted vocals in the beginning. This is a mid-paced death metal song. There's some decent leads thrown in with some pretty generic death metal riffs. The lead guitar parts are almost like James Murphy's, but James Murphy has much better leads. The drumming is done with great precision and it sounds hard & heavy. The double kick sounds a bit decent, nothing spectacular at all. The timing of the drums are pretty good. The fast riffs in this song are really great and the drums go along with them. This is a great song that starts off the album.

Necrotic Necrosis is an average song. It's a bit mid-paced with some fast moments and the vocals are okay. It features a little guitar solo that's really not impressive. I wish it was a bit longer.

A Fragment From Chaopula has some great vocal moments. The vocals sound natural and a pitch shifter is not used. The beat of the drum flows very nicely on this track as well. At the 2:51 - 3:08 marks, it has a weird stupid noise. What the heck is that? You need to listen to it to know what I'm talking about. This was really really not necessary and the song could have been a little over 4:30, not 5:03. Astral Corpse sounds like a straight forward death metal song with some pitch shifted vocals in the beginning, then the vocalist uses his natural vocals. The vocals sound a tad mean, but it's not too impressive at all. It sounds like he's trying too hard to sound badass. The pitch shifted vocals are also used in certain parts of the song. It features a pretty decent guitar solo, nothing really to write home about.

Cyclic Pathology Of Natura is the fastest song on this album and it's probably the best one. It has a creative guitar riffing that sounds pretty cool, you would need to listen to it in order to know what I'm talking about. It's a bit hard to describe. There's a couple mini guitar solos thrown in during the first minutes. It is the shortest actual song (I don't count Childcorpse Malformations, I'll get to that).

Glutting the Guts opens with some drums that sounds like something off Pungent Stench's Been Caught Buttering album. The bass sounds really audible in the beginning, but it gets a bit drowned out by the guitar. This is the first time I mention the bass. The bass on the other songs are not really noticeable. If you have really good ears, you'll find that there is bass. It just really blends in with the other instruments.

The other songs are not that good, because they tend to drag on and on. Depressed In Crimson Climax starts off with some guitar wanking, it is a weak attempt to sound amazing. The lead guitarist fails to excite me. The drumming surprisingly is a bit off in the beginning, but the drummer kind of gets his act together later on. Forget about Image Control in Biosphere of Unreal, it's long song title and a long boring song.

Perhaps if you listen to this closely, you might find this to be awesome. This is not really a death metal gem at all. The only one track that really doesn't go well with the album is Childcorpse Malformations. It only has keyboard stuff going on and then there's just vocals for 51 seconds. I don't consider this a song. That may be the only dud found on the album. I actually find it unnecessary and it does not impress me at all.

For the most part, this album is not astounding. Then again, I wouldn't call it good or bad. It does not suck, it almost sucks. This is the only full-length album by this band. They released a slew of demos between 1988 - 1991 (which is cool, but they're definitely nowhere in Chuck Schuldiner's Death's league at all), but they must have not been that up to the task to make another album. I don't really find it a shame, this band is a bit below average and their next album might have been catastrophe.

Necrophiliac is a strange, unrecognized band hailing from Spain. They originally were put together in 1988 and released five demos and a compilation before releasing their first debut album "Citadel of Mirrors". This album displays excellent workmanship in the areas of brutal death metal and also gore metal, and it almost seems to be a perfect formula for what both genres can dish out. Have no mistake though, there are plenty of similar bands that have the same kind of sound going on, but this band is "showing the pure backbone", like no other band out there. There are times in this album that are a little slow but that just adds on to the immense feeling of the evil riffs that are being expressed...But in a instant there will be riffs that will shred off the listener and pull away into a brutal barrage of abusive death metal.

This album proceeds with a very destructive guitar melody that ends with a clash, that invokes though of mystifying and assumption of what is next to come. Through the rest of the album it is a compilation of a menacing death/doom metal that many people have popularized and are well acknowledged for. As one of my most recommended songs on this album is Astral corpse in which it starts off with a death defying burial procession that will knock you down and then throw you back to your feet once again!

If your ready for a good dosage of death metal you will most undoubtedly love this album.