Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre (2012)

×

Nekromantheon - Rise, Vulcan Spectre (2012)

Close

Hailing from the hometown of none other than black metal legends Darkthrone, Nekromantheon unleash their sophomore effort to the formidable debut of unholy blackened thrash, Divinity of Death. So what would our true metal crusader from Norway make of all this then? Something tells me he wouldn’t at all be disappointed.

Rise, Vulcan Spectre follows where the previous Divinity of Death left off, thrash with a philosophy, and one philosophy only, to play as brutally fast as humanly possible. Only this time the production has been cranked up a gear or two to an acceptable level, clear yet gritty without ever venturing into Sneap territory, allowing all the components and various intricacies to shine yet still retaining an evil primal atmosphere that is required for this type of thrash metal.

An accurate comparison musically would probably be Morbid Saint, or as the sticker on the front said “For fans of old Sepultura, Slayer, Sadus and Sacrifice”. There is also a slight Teutonic influence among things here, certainly in the excessively vicious reverbed vocals of Arild which immediately bring Destruction to mind. The riffing is filthy and aggressive and never lets up for a second in the brief thirty minutes on show here and the leads are volatile and wild, breaking out of the mayhem with the ferocity of a feral dog. The drumming is as relentless as the guitar work and all combine together in what can only be described as a juggernaut of old school thrash which obliterates everything in its path leaving behind devastation and exhaustion. It is a short affair, clocking in at just over thirty minutes but probably no bad decision as thrash such as this does tend to get rather predictable after a while.

Rise, Vulcan Spectre will trample right over you leaving you broken, beaten and bruised. It’s no holds barred thrashing savagery with a pace which never gives. Indeed if you’re a fan of the aforementioned Sadus or Morbid Saint this will be right down your alley. Nekromantheon essentially present what is a big middle finger to the fashion thrash brigade. You can keep your Eviles and Gama Bombs, this is thrash performed the way it was designed to be. Raw, merciless and unsympathetic, and along with the likes of Midnight and Cruel Force who are making huge waves in the same scene as well, could decent thrash finally be making some sort of a push to usurp the current front runners? Let’s hope so.

~ www.metal-archives.com