ALBUM REVIEW: Dawn of the Damned – Necrophobic

Melody-driven blackened death metallers NECROPHOBIC aren’t messing about. After a five year gap between albums, they stormed back onto the scene with the impressive Mark of the Necrogram, and now just two years on they have returned with one of the strongest outings of their career. Led by lead songwriter and guitar hero Sebastian Ramstedt, the Swedish outfit have delivered gold with what proves to be simultaneously their most musically fun and conceptually serious offering to date. This is the Dawn of the Damned. 

Dawn of the Damned doesn’t start with a thunderous barrage, so much as it eases the listener in – the haunting, unnerving melodies of Aphelion sweeping in like an unnatural wind before Darkness Be By Guide crashes to life in all it’s blackened glory. Perfectly setting the tone for what’s to come from Dawn of the Damned, tremolo riffs take centre stage and a salvo of high tempo, high intensity drum work keeps the pace nice and frantic. Anders Strokirk makes his presence immediately felt, his glass-gurgling barks somehow delivered with a sense of clarity rarely seen in the genre. Joining Strokirk in the limelight, Ramstedt unleashes his first piece of stunning soloing of the album – a welcome and recurring theme across Dawn of the Damned.

Lead single Mirror Black shows Ramstedt at his most trigger happy, lead breaks, soloing and NWOBHM-inspired flourishes dominating the track, while Tartarian Winds charges onward initially with an urgent gallop before slowing to a more stomping rhythm. A welcome change in tempo before delving into The Infernal Depths of Eternity. For all the brilliance of NECROPHOBIC‘s furious melo-black metal assault, it’s moments like these that really prove the strength of the band. Far more grandiose than the sharp blasts of fury, while still steeped in darkness and Ramstedt‘s blistering solo work, The Internal Depths of Eternity proves NECROPHOBIC are at their best when the lean a bit harder into the epic, atmospheric strands of black metal.

Moving well into Side B, Dawn of the Damned‘s title track hits hard with plenty of memorable hooks, punishing riffs and another wide array of melodic, soloing brilliance – a real anchor of the record, and a welcome enhancement of Ramstedt‘s musical arsenal. The Shadows and As the Fire Burns are both solid continuations, again heavy on memorability and bringing a death metal edge to the melodic black metal assault, but they largely lack the same monumental punch NECROPHOBIC delivered with the likes of Darkness Be My Guide and The Infernal Depths of Eternity. But the last hoorah of Dawn of the Damned ends things on an incredible high – another grandiose offering in the form of The Return of a Long Lost Soul proves to be a clear stand out from the record, the penultimate track bringing Ramstedt‘s IRON MAIDEN influences into play stronger than ever before, while closing track Devil’s Spawn Attack brings something very different. Perhaps out of place on a record so serious, the album closer is none the less the most fun song NECROPHOBIC have ever put to tape. Joined by DESTRUCTION‘s legendary front man Schmier, Devil’s Spawn Attack is short, fierce, and a destined live-favourite, proving to end Dawn of the Damned in an unexpected, but most welcome, fashion.

The Swedes once again prove to be masters of their melodic blackened death metal niche, once again waving the flag for the Swedish mindset that brutality can still be catchy. The real shining star here is Ramstedt, who has guided the band into one of their most serious conceptual offerings while simultaneously ramping up is classic heavy metal chops and delivering some of the most fun NECROPHOBIC material in years. If 2018’s Mark of the Necrogram was a majestic return for NECROPHOBIC, Dawn of the Damned is a glorious continuation.

Rating: 9/10

Dawn of the Damned is out now via Century Media Records. 

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