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Necrowretch - With Serpents Scourge

Published February 05 2015


*
=Staff's pick

Black Death Communion*
Feast Off Their Doom
With Serpents Scourge*
By Evil And Beyond
The Bells Of Evil Schism
He Thrones On Thy Sins
Even Death May Die
Infernal Imprecation
Mortem Ritu*


Genre Death Metal
Vlad
Vocals
Tracks 9
Vlad
Guitar
Running time 35 Min.
-
Guitar
Label Century Media
Amphycion
Bass
Release 16 February 2015
Ilmar
Drums
Country France
-
Keyboard
Producer Patrick W. Engel
Similar artists Death, Nihilist

Standing out amongst the hordes of retro death revivalists is immensely difficult and few bands have truly succeeded. For those whose debut albums were truly something out of the ordinary, following up on the success has proven equally difficult. For instance, Bastard Priest's and Puteraeon's respective debuts both had that extra touch that put them above the generic death metal revivalists.

The former relied on a distinct crust punk nerve, whereas the latter's music captured the Lovecroftian feeling of their lyrics to a tee. However, when the sophomore's arrived both bands merged with the rest of the middle segment worshippers of Stockholm death metal. That extra touch, the magic was simply gone.

'Putrid Death Sorcery', the debut of French maniacs Necrowretch surely put them in the league of the extraordinary. Its primitive, dirty 80's death metal in the veins of early Death and Nihilist did not bring anything new to the table but was performed with such conviction and feeling that it seemed more like a lost gem from the late 80's than a revivalism product.

The roots that characterized the debut can still be found on Necrowretch's sophomore 'With Serpents Scourge'. Ferocious blast beats and frantic tremolo riffs accompany Vlad's hoarse screams like the 80's never left. However, the band shows evolvement, maturation maybe, on this one incorporating plenty of technical passages with tempo changes and odd paces far from the straightforward slaughter that was the debut.

Overall, 'With Serpents Scourge' feels more mid-tempo and black metal oriented than 'Putrid Death Sorcery'. According to the press bio, the band wanted to push the limits further with this album and they have undeniably done just that. Unfortunately, much of the feeling of dirt and anger from the debut was lost in the process and has not been fully replaced with something else to keep Necrowretch truly ahead of the game.

That does not mean that 'With Serpents Scourge' by default is a poor album. On the contrary, there are plenty of awesome riffs and guitar lines to be found here conjuring feelings of unease and horror. The Autopsy worship in the beginning of 'Mortem Ritu' is simply outstanding. In fact, the guitar sound overall is quite splendid. On a purely technical note, the only flaw lies with the bass sound bearing disturbingly big resemblance to a frog. As the guitars, drums and vocals are the focus in the mix; this however becomes a minor issue. The main issue remains the loss of the dirty intense feeling from the debut and the lack of proper replacements thereof.

Like many before them, Necrowretch released an immense out of the ordinary debut only to see themselves heading for the middle segment of retro death worshippers with their sophomore disc. 'With Serpents Scourge' contains some fine moments of riffing and songwriting and is in its own a good album. Compared to the monumental debut however, it becomes somewhat of a disappointment.

See also review of: Putrid Death Sorcery

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

8

5

7

7

7

 
Summary



7 chalices of 10 - Tengan


Related links:

www.necrowretch.net
www.facebook.com/pages/necrowretch