Nice riffs, haunting melodies and excellent songwriting – 88%
Agonymph, October 17th, 2021 [edited]
Written based on this version: 2020, CD, Century Media Records
The combination of black metal and death metal is a potentially interesting one, as the black metal influences can give death metal an eerie atmosphere it would not have otherwise. But it could just as easily turn an album into an endless barrage of blast beats that is exhausting to listen to. Sweden’s Necrophobic has attempted this tightrope dance – and occasionally stumbled – since day one, but I think they finally found the perfect balance on ‘Dawn Of The Damned’. The music has hints of the horror atmosphere typical for early Norwegian black metal, but without sacrificing the riffy, post-thrash nature of early nineties death metal.
What stands out to me immediately about ‘Dawn Of The Damned’ is how dynamic the album is. As much credit as guitarist Sebastian Ramstedt’s powerful songwriting deserves for this, the drumming of sole remaining original memeber Joakim Sterner has a lot of impact on how listenable the album is. Blast beats are used sparingly, while he mostly switches between thrash polkas, straighter beats and parts with a half-time feel. The explosive modern – but surprisingly not at all lifeless – drum sound definitely helps him come across as good as he does as well.
Besides, Necrophobic makes excellent use of having two guitarists as well. Ramstedt often connects the vocal parts with haunting minor key melodic parts, while Johan Bergebäck plays riffs underneath Ramstedt that can best be described as slightly slower thrash metal with more dissonant chords. The thrashy early death metal vibe is emphasized during songs on which the guitarists play a relatively large amount of riffs in unison, such as ‘The Shadows’. Ramstedt’s solos are remarkably strong melodically and his melodic themes also often function as the chorus melody, while vocalist Anders Strokirk’s raspy, aggressive growl provides the sharp edges.
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It is not that often that I find an album in this style such a pleasant listening experience as ‘Dawn Of The Damned’. Often, there is something throwing me off, such as a deliberately lo-fi production or an overdose of blast beats – I swear I’d enjoy quite a few black metal bands a lot more without them – but ‘Dawn Of The Damned’ is everything I could want from a combination of death, black and thrash metal. Some hardcore extreme metal fans will probably be thrown off by the rather clean, polished production, but that is beneficial rather than detrimental to the album for me. Definitely worth checking out if you’re into good riffs and eerie melodies.
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Originally written for my Kevy Metal weblog
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