ALBUM REVIEW: In The Twilight Grey – Necrophobic
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — that’s the doctrine NECROPHOBIC have subscribed to for decades now. Since the return of vocalist Anders Strokirk on 2018’s Mark Of The Necogram, Sweden’s undisputed kings of blackened death metal’s form has been as fiery hot as the halls of hell itself, and unlike Brock Lesnar, In The Twilight Grey doesn’t break the streak.
Opener Grace Of The Past languishes in suspense before giving way like a dam to a flood to sheer black metal dissonance and blast beats. Strokirk’s signature snarl signals their return, commanding the devil’s legions to unleash hellfire upon the world as riffs ride a cacophonous rhythm section like ships in a tidal wave. Clavis Inferni doesn’t let up; double-bass blasts deliver blunt force trauma to the skull whilst buzzsaw guitars grind down your flesh with the intensity of Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen — only then there’s a chorus catchier than the common cold.
Does In The Twilight Grey reinvent the NECROPHOHIC wheel? Yes. Does it really matter? When vocals as venomous as a snake set to kill all in its sights as it slithers through hell shift into harmonic screams, compelling you to raise a fist to the sky and let your lungs sing along at their loudest, on Stormcrow, then no, it doesn’t matter at all.
Guitarist and principal songwriter Sebestian Ramstedt spent time pondering what NECROPHOBIC founder David Parland would’ve done, revisiting their mid-to-late 90s output — like 1997’s Darkside and 1999’s The Third Antichrist — to reinvigorate their baptism of fire. As a result, as intense as it is accessible, In The Twilight Grey picks up where 2020’s Dawn Of The Damned left off in soaking up the sounds of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Stormcrow’s power solo packs a harder punch than world-record holder Francis Ngannou, whilst As Stars Collide leans into the storytelling grandiosity that every pagan metal act under the sun pillaged from MAIDEN, HELLOWEEN and their ilk. Add in the maturity that three decades making blasphemous blackened death metal brings, and there’s a sensibility to the album’s structure, with harmonic choruses, melodic licks, and a penchant for pacing that truly immerses you into NECROPHOBIC’s world.
In an age where attention spans grow shorter each day, you’d be forgiven for fearing In The Twilight Grey’s 54-minute runtime. But even on its longest songs, it never feels like it lingers in one place too long, and it never loosens its grip. Album highlight Shadows Of The Brightest Night is more indulgent than bathing in a pool of melted chocolate, channelling early-era DISSECTION, mid-career BEHEMOTH, and latter-day KREATOR simultaneously, signing off seven and a half minutes of heavy metal mastery with manic laughter growing louder in the mix’s undergrowth. Elsewhere, the title track demands your attention as the longest song on the album, as rollercoaster riffs loop-de-loop alongside bulldozer blast beats before Strokirk steals the show as a nefarious narrator.
NECROPHOBIC’s line-up might resemble that infamous Only Fools & Horses sketch — the one where Trigger’s broom has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles — but their latest incarnation is no less intense, and no less fiery. When blackened death metal is delivered this good, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel — just raise your horns and bang your head.
Rating: 9/10
In The Twilight Grey is set for release on March 15th via Century Media Records.
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