ALBUM REVIEW: Servants Of The Salem Girl – The Necromancers

French quartet THE NECROMANCERS have only been around since 2016, bringing their powerful sounds of occult doom psychedelic rock  but have already taken Europe on by storm and now they have delivered their debut album Servants of the Salem Girl, proving their worth as one of the best newcomers on the scene.

Salem Girl Part 1 immediately showcases what the band are all about, it’s got that obvious doom intro but as it continues you can see where the psychedelic influences come in. On first listen you wouldn’t necessarily be expecting to hear the first track of a band that had only been around for a year as immediately it’s notable that this band know exactly who they are and what they want their sound to be like.

It’s recognisable with the influences in their sound, Lucifer’s Kin and Black Marble House absolutely screams BLACK SABBATH but what kind of a doom and psychedelic band would they be if they hadn’t got the influences from them pouring in. It doesn’t just sound like every other band trying to keep those SABBATH sounds prominent though, they have experimented and put a huge sense of urgency into it and made their own style out of someone else.

Whilst the experimentation in this album is clear it’s easy to say that the best thing about this album is the simplicity of how the riffs and grooves just pour out of the sound. There’s the obvious thick fuzzy guitars and harsh vocals but there’s such a dominance in how charismatic each track is without having to go overboard with production general musical complexities. It’s straight up mind-blowing, rock and roll music and the level of maturity is impeccable.

The downfall of Servants of the Salem Girl is that for a psychedelic doom band the album doesn’t feel like it has much of an atmosphere about it. The music itself is drastically outstanding but there’s nothing atmospherically binding it together to give it that polished doom vibe. For a band that has so much to offer so early on it almost feels in that way there is an uncertainty of tameness and perhaps with some of the album there was a safety button that was pushed but in no way shape or form did they need that but it cannot be blamed either.

Overall it’s an absolutely superb debut record, one of the strongest that has perhaps been released in recent years but THE NECROMANCERS need to unleash some of that tame behaviourism’s and let themselves grow the way they should because if this is the finished product of such a young band they will be able to achieve well-deserved heights in their career.

Rating: 8/10  

Servants of the Salem Girl is out now via Ripple Music 

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