This is the debut album from Necrophagous, a death metal band from Sweden.
Featuring ex-members of Visceral Bleeding and Entrails, In Chaos Ascend contains 45 minutes of groove-laden, blast beat-driven timeless death metal.
The promo blurb compares Necrophagous’ sound to a combination of the above two bands, along with others such as Morbid Angel, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus. It’s a decent enough description, although there’s not too much Entrails in the band’s sound in my humble opinion. Even more simply then, I’d say that imagining a mixture of Morbid Angel’s twisted riffing and Hate Eternal‘s blistering speed wouldn’t be too far from the mark. Either way, this paragraph should hopefully set the scene nicely for what In Chaos Ascend has to offer.
The band’s USDM-styled death metal is satisfying and easy to like. The blast beats are precise and merciless, and the grooves are brutal and tight. Necrophagous like their speed in their music, and they do it very well.
The songs are well-written, with a surprising amount of catchy hooks embedded in them. There are plenty of memorable riffs that rip into your flesh, and the band clearly have a good handle on their classic death metal guitars.
The singer’s voice is instantly recognisable to me from his Visceral Bleeding days, and it’s great to hear his distinctive growled bark once more. His vocal patterns and rhythms work in concert with the music, and his performance has a catchiness to it that only the old-school style can deliver.
With good songs and loaded with hooks, Necrophagous have crafted a strong debut album. Their music may be old-school in inspiration, but it has a passionate contemporary delivery and a timeless application. This is just damn good death metal, and I heartily recommend it for any fan of the style.
Wonderbox Metal 