Bloodhymns

Necrophobic, the experts of painstakingly constructed black metal with an extra evil aura, released "Bloodhymns" in 2002. The band seemed to be in a very good condition. Equipped with an unholy rage, the four-piece forged an album that does not need a warm-up period. Instead, all churches go up in flames as soon as the first tones of the opener fill the room. Of course, not in reality. Let me remind you that Necrophobic originate from Sweden, not from Norway. Fine difference! But the houses of God start to burn in a figurative sense and the musicians, as much as I regret it, do not know where the extinguishers are. And even if they knew it - they would not use them.

Malicious riffs, flattening leads, sadistic vocals and high velocity drumming create very malevolent scenarios. Blood-soaked melodies justify the title of the album. Necrophobic prove one more time that they are able to establish a viable connection between the most furious parts which drag the listener down to hell and extremely dark harmonies that deliver a profound blackness. These two main components mutually influence each other in order to result in pretty perfect songs. Neither the rapid eruptions nor the majestic, more melodic sequences appear as a value in itself. Each part is aligned with further sections of the entire song and the smooth breaks and tempo changes never hurt the flow of the material. Even short acoustic breaks or screaming solo guitars submit themselves to the overarching goal, the creation of dense, perfectly flowing and monolithic compositions. Additionally, it goes without saying that the professionalism of Necrophobic does not allow a weak production. The voice and the guitars stand in the foreground without taking the rhythm section the air to breathe.

The first half of the album discards all scruples. Each and every band member has made a contribution to the song-writing and the manual know-how is out of question. Songs like the straight opener or the slightly more complex "Mourningsoul" want to engulf the listener in a maelstrom of vehemence and viciousness, while the majestic leads of "Shadowseeds" highlight other aspects. The unswerving double bass rolls out the red carpet for the accusing guitars and the lead vocals prefer a demonic approach instead of the usual mix of aggression and insanity. Unfortunately, Necrophobic are not able to keep the quality level of the first five, six songs. No need to panic, they do not make experiments. The interesting song formula remains the same, but the riffs are a tad less stunning. "Cult of Blood", for example, does not lack of anger and lustful destruction, nevertheless, it fails to stick in my mind. Good, but not outstanding - this decribes the last tunes in a fitting manner. Anyway, passion and musicality are the main pillars of this full-length which always finds its way back from the shelf into the CD player. Listen to the hymns and enjoy.

I suppose one reason why criticism doesn’t go viral with positivity is because its difficult to describe how brilliant something is when its straightforward black metal. No it doesn’t do anything to separate itself from the pack, but with music being in the constant state of poor signal to noise ratio its been in since about 1996, its important to consider somebody executing something correctly a legitimate point of view. Its true black metal. It’s good. Get it. The entire band executes each song like a remorseless pack of rabid werewolves ripping apart a rape victim as violently as possible with its teeth in a cold mountain forest.

The highlight of the whole thing has to be Acts of Rebellion, particularly with the line “I punch my fist right through your flesh, and tear out your fucking spine.” The only thing better than that lyric is Tobias Sidegard’s deliciously revolting delivery. He doesn’t let up the assault on the whole album (neither does the rest of the band), but if I have to pick out one standout moment, it’s that track.

I suppose if there is any complaint, its that I notice that most of the cleaner moments of the album sound a tad like Tool, but that’s more of a tonality similarity than anything else. I don’t think any casual listener is thinking Necrophobic into Sober anytime soon.

As for the newcomer, Johan Bergeback, and what new blood he brings to the table, there isn’t really a noticeable difference in his rhythm playing versus Martin’s playing on Third Antichrist. I’m not a guitar player, so I can’t really go into depth on his strengths and weakness, but considering how fast a lot of these riffs and rhythms are, (and yes they are blinding), and considering he was with the band for 10 years, he couldn’t have been any slouch (his work on Helfire and Taste of Black seems to stand out the most).

The production continues the trend of hi-fi black metal starting with Dissection and carried on by Sacramentum, Immortal, Watain, etc., It’s a perfect fit, as fans of those bands would be who I would recommend this to the most. Thankfully the production isn’t too modern as the double bass drums are not clicky or loud enough to the point where they subtract from everything else.

2002 had plenty of high profile classic releases, but for some sad reason this one gets overlooked. If not for Sons of Northern Darkness I would call this the best black metal album of that year. Still, if that album was bit too “traditional metal” for you (and if it was, you really need to get the torch splinter out of your bunghole), this would make a fine alternative, without sacrificing anything of what makes black metal great to begin with.

This wouldn’t quite be my first Necrophobic purchase before the legendary Nocturnal Silence or Darkside, but if you love the latter, or Dissection, Sacramentum, Watain, you’ll absolutely love this. Now punch your fist right through that flesh!

Recommended tracks:

Acts of Rebellion
Taste of Black
Blood Anthem

When it comes to long-standing Swedish black/death metallers Necrophobic, it appears to be 2006’s “Hrimthursum” that is held in particularly high regard by most fans – alongside the band’s celebrated debut album “The Nocturnal Silence”, of course, which has long since attained cult status. The Swedes’ fourth studio output “Bloodhymns”, on the other hand, doesn’t get nearly the same recognition.

When comparing it to the aforementioned “Hrimthursum”, the first thing that comes to mind is that it is a much more concise effort: where its successor was quite grandiose in scope, running for almost an hour and boasting a diversified stylistic approach rather than pummeling the listener with a non-stop barrage of blast beats and tremolo-picked guitars, “Bloodhymns” seems much more content with doing just that. While the band does mix things up with some slower, more atmospheric tracks, they basically deliver a no-frills, straightforward black/death metal record that runs for roughly 45 minutes and features ten tracks (including a rather pointless and unnecessarily elongated outro) that are mostly stripped down to the basic and fundamental ingredients required for this particular genre.

Though the above paragraph may sound a bit negative at first, it isn’t necessarily meant that way: where the slightly superior “Hrimthursum”, despite all its brilliance, may seem somewhat aimless and pompous at times, “Bloodhymns” is overall just a little more focused, more aggressive and more to the point. In fact, it makes for a very enjoyable listen and features a bunch of consistently good tracks, some of which may be among the best the black/death genre has to offer. Songs like “Dreams Shall Flesh”, “Shadowseeds” or “Mourningsoul” are a perfect reminder of why Necrophobic, along with fellow Swedes Naglfar, belong in the conversation as one of the most talented bands to follow in the footsteps of the mighty Dissection and their monolithic masterpiece “Storm of the Light’s Bane”. In case it has not yet become sufficiently obvious, this humble reviewer has a real soft spot for the trademark Swedish blend of black and death metal, and as a metalhead, how could one not like the incredibly haunting and intense guitar work some of these bands manage to come up with?

In that regard, it is hardly surprising that the guitars easily steal the show on “Bloodhymns”. The drums (a word on them later) and vocals – the bass, as is usually the case in black metal, doesn’t do a whole lot – are perfectly solid, but it’s the guitars that will leave the listener gaping in awe, delivering crunching riffs and mind-blowing harmonies by the boatload. It certainly helps that they are monstrously produced and mixed to the forefront, with the other instruments mostly taking a back seat. Interestingly enough, while the riffs and melodies are of the typical black/death variety, the way the rhythm guitars sound is rooted deeply in death metal territory and harks back to the “Stockholm school” of Swedish death metal with bands like Dismember and (early) Entombed. Then again, as Necrophobic basically started out as a death metal outfit with relatively minor “occult” or black metal leanings, the unexpected guitar sound can be considered a not-so-subtle nod to the band’s old-school roots.

However, not all is gold that glitters on “Bloodhymns”. If there is one thing that drags the album down a few notches, it has to be the horrible drum sound. In part due to the massive wall of guitars and the fact that the drums have very little punch or resonance, both the snare and the bass drums tend to be nearly drowned out during the faster (blast beat) passages, which is a shame since the drumming per se is certainly competent; yet even the best drummer in the world can’t do much when his instrument sometimes sounds as if it were made of shoddy plastic or cardboard instead of whatever it is a professional drum kit is made of. Case in point: the beginning of the opening track “Taste of Black”, where the drums come across as particularly weak and muffled.

As this is about the only major gripe this reviewer has with “Bloodhymns”, which by the way features some very nice artwork, it still qualifies as an excellent album that falls just short of greatness.

Choicest cuts: Dreams Shall Flesh, Shadowseeds, Mourningsoul, Blood Anthem

Summary Judgment, oh how I have missed thee. Hours of work and other commitments have kept me from you, but no more. Now that the summer is drawing close I will re-devote myself to you. Our first victim? Bloodyhymns by Swedish black/death/thrashers Necrophobic. These guys have been around since '89 and although they haven't done anything groundbreaking, they have a solid discography that is worth the time of fans of the Swedish death metal sound.

Mixing the Swedish death metal sound with some black metal, Necrophobic have managed to create forty six minutes of blasphemous metal. The music is standard Swedish death style and the production is classic Sunlight sound. The songs are high tempo for the most part, the riffs are somewhat generic but are plenty catchy and make for good headbanging material. What I like the most about this album are the great lyrics. The first track, "Taste of Black", has some choice blasphemy: "Confront me now/ weak inferior christian filth/ Turn to your faith/ My resurrection will be your fall." No, it's not brilliant or thought provoking, but it sure is fun! At least my Orthodox Catholic roommate thinks so.

While Necrophobic are clearly death metal, they certainly do embody some of the black metal spirit. The songs surround the same basic theme, anti-christianity and blasphemy, and the style is vaguely reminiscent of De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas era Mayhem, the major differences being the vocals and the death metal styled drumming. But one can tell that several of the riffs came straight from that classic Mayhem album.

My major complaint of Bloodhymns is that it does get old quite quickly. The songs are all very similar and don't offer anything new. Thus I can only recommend this album to die hard fans of this style. It is done quite well, but again is nothing truly noteworthy.

Originally Published @ www.metaljudgment.com (c) 2003