Blackened satanic metallers Necrophobic have been hitting the headlines for some depressing reasons this year – and unfortunately all totally unrelated to their music. In March, founding band member David Parland died, apparently after committing suicide. Then last month the antics of lead singer Tobias Sidegard landed himself with a six month jail sentence and a court case that involved his partner and testimony from their two children. It certainly could not have come at a worse time for the rest of the band on the eve of their first album in four years.
The band has reacted pretty swiftly. They released a statement saying Sidegard is ‘no longer a member of Necrophobic’. The email, sent by the record company, went on: ‘The verdict following his trial regrettably left us, the band, with no other choice. As stated before, Necrophobic do not accept or tolerate domestic violence in any way.’ Onwards and upwards then – at least for the band.
Necrophobic, broadly speaking from the Dissection school of metal, have become a strong and vibrant band over the years and have struck out with this one in a clear attempt to be more adventurous. The first album, with Parland, was an undeniable classic, and every single one since then has been a solid piece of work and well worth dipping into. The last two in particular were two of their best. To say I was looking forward to this was an understatement particularly with the band drip feeding hints that they were preparing something of a magnum opus. A new dawn for the band.
Ambitious it certainly is. At almost 70 minutes long and with 14 tracks, Womb of Lilithu is their longest album by a good margin. But for a band that I am more used to giving me the short-sharp shock treatment, that immediately made me a little nervous. For the lyrics and song titles, many of which are the names of unmentionable darks lords and ladies, the band has been plundering various grimoires and demonologies from the middle ages – the perfect muse for the satanic-obsessed Necrophobic. The overall concept therefore is pretty impeccable. The riffs are there, the hell-for-leather driving percussion, the blackened satanic chanting and rasping vocals courtesy of the now detained Sidegard. And you can’t fault a band for striking out into more ambitious territory – I’ve bemoaned many bands for failing to do that throughout these very web pages. There are some decent tunes here too and this should perhaps even could, as the band has suggested, been their best yet.
So what is missing and why can I not shake the feeling I’m disappointed? Because something surely is missing and try as I might I just cannot click with this one in the same way as I have instantly done with albums of the past. The production, I worry, has cut off too many of the sharp edges that normally give the band a colder sound. I feel like the vocals, with all their cut-throat charm, are also too high in the mix. This band is about the riffs with their frozen black metal edges tearing you a new one every time their rear their ugly screaming demon-possessed heads and for me nothing should get in the way of that.
The well-controlled melody is still there, sprinkled not too heavily but definitely in here confirming the band’s commitment to cool atmospherics and a nicely dropped hook. But I feel like the big, butt-clenching anthems that normally chain you in from the word go are thin on the ground here and not enough of the old, acerbic Necrophobic elsewhere to make up for that. There is plenty of promising depth to plunge into and that tracks like Matanbuchus are there to grow into your psyche – and I’m hoping some repeated listens can win me over more.
But other tracks seem a little obvious and, perhaps through wanting the sort of production that would really bring them alive, tracks like Black Night Raven and The Necromancer never really hit the spot like they initially promise to do. I have to face the uncomfortable conclusion that it’s just all a bit too long and laboured and the band have been let down by some uninspiring production. This is a solid piece of work in many ways, but not for a band like Necrophobic that should really be capable of better things.
(7/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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