Album Review: Necrophobic - In the Twilight Grey
Reviewed by Sam Jones
When the debate over influential extreme metal bands arises, often Necrophobic are one such band who are forgotten about, and it’s only when you view their lengthy history and discography that one realises just how seminal they really are. Formed in 1989 out of Stockholm, Sweden, Necrophobic are lauded amongst the earliest infusers of black and death metal, especially following the 1993 release of their debut full length record: The Nocturnal Silence. Since then, uninterrupted, Necrophobic have gifted us a slew of records, notably that aforementioned debut, their follow-up 1997 release, Darkside, 2002’s Bloodhymns and their most recent album, 2020’s Dawn Of The Damned (a favourite of mine). Now, four years on, the band bring us their tenth full length album as well as a new bassist, so let’s delve into In The Twilight Grey and see what the Swedes have brought out for us, due for release come March 15th via Century Media Records.
It’s striking that, more than thirty years on, Necrophobic still perform with a biting malice whilst some of their contemporaries have softened in recent years. The band were amongst the earliest to fuse Black with Death metal and it’s still abundantly apparent venturing within In The Twilight Grey that that essence is yet to change. If anything, this record seems to ooze a greater degree of blackened edge than their last album did. The overall punch their songwriting possesses hasn’t lessened, the firm might their riffs and performance hit with is still as strong as it’s ever been, though this record does harness an arctic snarl their last record didn’t demonstrate as keenly if you ask me. It’s pretty subtle but it emanates primarily from the selection of riffs employed for this album, and the vocals so mixed into their performance that while the band still bring copious amounts of strength, some of the strength inherent in their punch has been traded for a more visceral impact. Though the band still leave their mark, there are additional, sharp wounds on your torso.
But if there’s one element that has maintained the blunt force impact, it’s the drums. Necrophobic have often maintained a strong production quality spread across their album releases, and so audiences have become used to receiving performances that aren’t marred by muddied or scraping production. The high quality in this instance has enabled the band to jut out these icy riffs with stabbing finesse, yet it’s also allowed the drums, whether it be cymbals or bass drums or Tom-toms, to come off with a firm yet brutal strike. The band of course have their place within extreme metal but their innate extremity does not equate to constant blast beats which is a nice change of pace when so many bands are subconsciously twinned with providing them. Whilst Necrophobic do use blast beats, it’s only sparingly. As a result their drumming is more conventional and enables their audience to focus on the grander scope of the band’s full performance as opposed to being dominated by a lone element. The drumming helps bind the full band together and ensure you’re able to receive the full breadth of Necrophobic’s soundscape.
I’ve often appreciated Necrophobic as they don’t always aim to make themselves out as the most evil or nefarious band there is. The band understand the ultimate aim of music is to entertain and that’s what they set out to do; the initial few tracks of this record purport that colder, scathing sensibility of black metal but then you get a track like “As Stars Collide” where the songwriting, though exhibiting the familiar essence of their prefixing tracks, is much bouncier and steadier in its pacing. The band aren’t always opting for the fastest, most blistering thing going; sometimes it’s just as interesting bringing the pace and flow down a touch and seeing what you can insert into that opening. Seeing how their tracks share roughly the same timespans, it’s more important that Necrophobic play around with songwriting some more since they wouldn’t want their performance waning, nor their music to grow dull and tedious. There’s more occurring throughout Necrophobic’s songwriting than savagery alone, there’s real fun and dynamic pacing to be had.
More so than riffs and songwriting alone, the vocals too have a great sense of flow. When you listen to Necrophobic play, their vocals, whilst quick and harnessing the snarl inherent to them, aren’t beating at you constantly. The vocals understand when to press the attack but also when to drop away and let the instrumentation take over the speaking for the band if you will. Yet, there’s a strange sense of storytelling to the vocals too, for while you may not decipher too many a word of what’s being said, the way and rate it’s being said invokes a sense of storytelling from time to time. It’s noted in many bands less extreme than Necrophobic that this approach to vocalisation binds audiences deep within their grasp, as it’s a natural way of getting people to listen. So, the vocals aren’t just utilised as another element for the band to use alongside riffs or drumming, they’re employed sometimes to ensure we keep listening, which comes in handy with a record approaching an hour long.
In conclusion, In The Twilight Grey is, to me, an interesting album because while the band meander into more black metal-dominated territory this time round, they make up for it with plenty of development in tone, pacing, flow and even a few longer tracks that require more mature songwriting to occur to keep us engaged. Though it’s not my favourite release by the band, there are many who will likely take to it some more than I did, and it needs to be said it’s a very entertaining record seeing how I was kept fixed to their ongoing performance for nearly an hour straight. That’s often been Necrophobic’s magic; their songwriting may been pretty clearly defined, and their tone may not shift too greatly from album to album, but the band have always managed to find something they can include into their music to keep it continually fresh and invigorating. There’s plenty to take away and enjoy here, and it’s good to receive yet another record from Necrophobic four years on from their last full length work.
