ALBUM REVIEW: Necrotic Overlord – Marasmus

The last decade or so has seen a real resurgence in the death metal world. There is a real plethora of young and hungry bands that are keeping one of the most vibrant and varied sub genres of the heavy music world intact with a wealth of different groups to choose from. MARASMUS are one of the bands that are helping to keep the movement alive and well, having released two full lengths and two extended plays to date that have showed some real promise. Now in 2021 the guys have compiled their third full length record entitled Necrotic Overlord and are hoping to take their particularly brutal brand of death metal to the forefront of the metal community.

The band waste little time in getting down to what they do best. The opening track Ectoplasmic Violation is a melting pot of high velocity, tremolo riffs and pummelling blast beats. The vocals from Devon Ferrera harsh and immediate in their delivery and add to the overall sonic battery that befalls the listener. The other thing that is obvious from the start is the way that MARASMUS wear their influences very much on their collective sleeve. You get hints of classic death metal acts such as BOLT THROWER, SUFFOCATION and DEICIDE without re-treading the same beaten path that so many have done before them, rather they have taken their own and have managed to make everything sound fresh and new.

As is the case with many death metal bands, the drummer is the unsung hero and that is most certainly the case here with Trynt Kelly. His intelligent use of polyrhythms, constantly shifting tempos and driving beats lay the foundation for the rest of the band to build upon. A vast majority of what the band do is at breakneck speed. The scathing delivery of Universal Deceit and Appeasing Thanatos seem to do everything in their power to pound your ear drums in to dust and feel as though they were created solely to manufacture the biggest circle pits possible when the band get to take the songs on the road.

The only issue to be found on Necrotic Overlord is that it is a little one dimensional. Now, that is not to say that it will not be appealing to the fans of the brutal death metal style that the band do so well, but more that for the casual metalhead the lack of deviation from the theme can become a little tiresome. This is made even more frustrating by the moments when MARASMUS give us a little teaser that are capable of mixing things up a little with the introduction to the song Voices of The Wailing Deceased. The opening has an eerie clean guitar playing over the top of an ethereal sounding voice which creates a tremendously powerful feeling of dread and intrigue before catapulting into the usual tirade of blast beats. However, in this instance the music has a more melodic feel to it, using a chord progression that gives things an epic feel before ditching it all and heading back into the familiar territory of straight forward brutal death metal.

Archaic Burial Rites is one of the real highlights of the album. The almost orchestral introduction to the song sounds like something that could have come from the cutting room floor of a classic DIMMU BORGIR album and the song kicks up the number of variations greatly. When the music kicks in it is business as usual with the same fret burning riffs and relentless drum work, but in the final third of the song we get a classic death metal inspired riff that breathes life back into the song and provides a real moment to savour.

The opening riff to Insurrection is another example of the high quality of musicianship possessed by the band. The frantic introduction the cavalcades into a CANNIBAL CORPSE inspired melee of chugging guitar lines and guttural, percussive vocals. This is MARASMUS firing on all cylinders and showing just how devastating they can really be. A superb way to switch things up just as things began to feel a little predictable once again.

Overall Necrotic Overlord album is a decent example to just what MARASMUS have to offer to the metal world. When they get it right, they really do, and you have some prime examples of that here. However, the lack of variation is something that could really harm them going forward and could see them fall into the middle of the pack like so many similar bands have done in the past. A good album, that could have been great.

Rating: 7/10

Necrotic Overlord is out now via Transcending Obscurity Records. 

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