ALBUM REVIEW: Necro Sapiens – Baest

Danish death metallers BAEST have had a busy, busy career thus far. Since releasing their debut Danse Macabre in 2018, the Danes quickly followed it up the next year with Venenum and embarked on a myriad of high profile tours well and truly conquering Europe. Their output thus far has shown a strength rarely seen in European death metal scene – but you better believe things are going to get better. Just 18 months on from Venenum, BAEST are back with their strongest outing to date – this is the age of the Necro Sapiens. 

The Forge opens things up with the only real misstep of Necro Sapiens. At 34 seconds long, featuring no music and doing little to establish an atmosphere, the intro track feels a little bit pointless – there’s no hints of what’s to come, no atmosphere-building, just a half-minute delay before things really get going. An odd choice. Amazingly, however, these meagre 34 seconds prove to be the only negative across the entirety of the album. From Genesis onward, it is abundantly clear that BAEST have evolved into a band that has the potential to be unstoppable. Huge melodies run through Genesis bringing an unprecedented sense of memorability to BAEST‘s arsenal and a sense that the quintet have spent their time massively improving their song writing game. The riffs keep things at a bruising, mid-tempo stomp throughout Genesis while bursts of speed keep things dynamic, and those ever-present melodies elevate the atmosphere wonderfully.

Don’t mistake this talk of melody as a sign BAEST have gone soft, though. These melodious licks and solo-breaks serve to give more memorability to their brand of brutality, not detract from it. This is clearly evident from the title track, blitzkrieg speed making way for doomy passages while dissonant buzzsaw riffs create a horrifying atmosphere. Necro Sapiens‘ huge chorus is another sign of the evolution and emphasis on memorability – an aspect that becomes embedded into BAEST as the record progresses.

Moving into the midway point of Necro Sapiens, Czar brings an almost death doom approach initially. Notes ring out like a dirge while Simon Olsen‘s barked growls dominate the focus, and BAEST show their adaptability as the track build momentum and speed effortlessly. Lead single Abattoir keeps that momentum rolling forward, neck-snapping grooves and bursts of technicality showering forth. It’s Goregasm that dominates the record’s mid-section, though. A taste of grandiose brutality, the soundscape of violence – of the slow, bludgeoning variety and quicker, more eviscerating stylings both – shows a subtle taste for progressive, technical death metal tendencies and an appetite for atmosphere that promise very exciting things to come from future BAEST works.

The pacing of Necro Sapiens deserves praise. Once you get passed The Forge, BAEST start strong and manage to keep the momentum rolling forward at an exceptional rate, showcasing their incredible strengths across a myriad of styles and sounds. It’s technical in places, proggy in other, sometimes doomy, sometimes grinding. Yet in spite of the range of styles the band showcase here, the quality remains high throughout, the momentum keeps rising and at no point does this sound like anything other than BAEST on top of their game. As if to hammer that point home, Towers of Suffocation is a bastard born of tech-death and BAEST‘s old-school death metal roots. Utterly furious, it heralds the approaching end of Necro Sapiens with the momentum at an all time high.

And they don’t offer up even a hint of respite as the record comes into its closing tracks. Purification Through Mutilation is pure filth, crammed with stank-face summoning riffs, buzz-saw speeds and a sonic violence that most bands could only dream of capturing. Some truly stunning solo work around the half-way point is sadly short-lived, but its frantic nature only adds to the chaos. Penultimate single Meat Hook Massacre is as brutal as the title suggests; grinding, out for blood, and perhaps as a paradox the catchiest offering of Necro Sapiens, is sets up the record’s close wonderfully. And what a close it is. Talk about saving the best for last, Sea of Vomit is arguably the most atmospheric offering thus far, though it doubles down on every hint of catchiness, dissonance and old-school brutality we’ve seen across the record. A truly monolithic close to BAEST‘s magnum opus.

There is no questioning that Necro Sapiens represents the strongest material BAEST have yet put to tape. While very much in line with what might be expected of the Danes from their output thus far, it is blindingly clear that the quintet are operating at their best; the song writing is exemplary, the execution flawless. Drop the introductory track that adds nothing to the album, and this is a perfect record, no doubt. BAEST are on the cusp of cementing themselves as one of the greats of European death metal, and this will be the record to do that. Hail Denmark, hail BAEST, and hail the Necro Sapiens.

Rating: 9/10

Necro Sapiens is set for release March 5th via Century Media Records. 

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