ALBUM REVIEW: Necrophobic, "Mark of the Necrogram"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type:Full Length

Date Released:23/02/2018

Label:Century Media Records

‘Mark of the Necrogram’ is as great as any album Necrophobic has ever released. The band is beaming with new creative life; driven by excellent performances all around and a vocalist that fits his band even better the second time around.

‘Mark of the Necrogram’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Mark of the Necrogram

2. Odium Caecum

3. Tsar Bomba

4. Lamashtu

5. Sacrosanct

6. Pesta

7. Requiem for a Dying Sun

8. Crown of Horns

9. From the Great Above to the Great Below

10. Undergången

The Review:

Some twenty-five years after the release of their debut album, Necrophobic aren’t just still alive and kicking, they’re releasing some of the best music of their career. The band hasn’t ever released anything that wasn’t at least good, and often times they’ve been great. That makes for a rare level of consistency for any band, regardless of genre. That’s not to say the band themselves haven’t had their ups and downs over the years.

The band’s longtime vocalist and early bassist Tobias Sidegård was rightly fired from the band following his conviction for domestic abuse in 2013. ‘Mark of the Necrogram’ is the band’s first full length album without Sidegård, and interestingly, the band has opted to bring back Anders Strokirk, who was the vocalist on the band’s debut album, ‘The Nocturnal Silence’. It’s especially interesting since this doesn’t seem to indicate a return to their early, pure death metal roots.

In fact, the band are largely continuing in the same mixed black and death metal direction they’ve been travelling for more than 20 years. ‘Mark of the Necrogram’ continues in the similar vein to 2013’s ‘Womb of Lilithu’, however the songs on this album are much better written and arranged. That probably owes to a heavier reliance on melody, though they balance the scales between that melody and darker material superbly. Strokirk’s work in Blackshinehad seen him using a much more commercial, quasi-melodic vocal style, but he has pivoted back into extreme vocals exceedingly well.

Perhaps best exemplifying that aforementioned balance between melody and darkness is “Requiem for a Dying Sun”, which may be Necrophobicmost anthemic song ever. Its deliberate, stomping tempo and hook-crazy guitar work make it an early candidate to be one of the year’s best extreme metal songs. The song, by all rights, should be for Necrophobicwhat “Tyrants” was for Immortal. It’s so good that I’m sort of baffled that it wasn’t chosen as the advance single for the album.

What it boils down to is this: when a band has a long, high-caliber career like Necrophobicdoes, opinions on where albums rank are going to vary quite a bit. I know people that are huge proponents of several different albums in the band’s discography. It’s also very difficult to overcome the reverence that nostalgia lends those first two albums. It’s with that in mind that I would say ‘Mark of the Necrogram’ is as great as any album Necrophobic has ever released. At the very least, it’s their best since “Darkside”. The band is beaming with new creative life; driven by excellent performances all around and a vocalist that fits his band even better the second time around. Get this immediately.

‘Mark of the Necrogram’ is available here

Band info: Official ||Facebook