Necros Christos - "Doom of the Occult" (2011) [The Ajna Offensive]

This album has been anticipated in some circles more than the second coming of christ. Since their epic masterpiece, 'Triune Impurity Rites' set such a huge bar for them to create a follow-up to, I can honestly say that this new album has delivered in full. Slimy, old-school death/doom, completely devoid of pointless technical wankery, sparkly production, drums triggers...pretty much everything that makes newer death metal as pathetic as most of it is. NC fires back against the cheese of new death metal with oriental/middle eastern tinged melodies, ripping guitar solos (not guitar wank either) and metal that truly sounds EVIL. After reading a few interviews with NC main-man Mors Dalos Ra, it seems he certainly is serious about spirituality and adherence to evil, which really shine through in his work. Imagine that? Death metal that sounds and IS evil. Hmm, who would have thought?

In between the plodding dirges of doomy death are weird oriental-esque interludes, which help set up the tracks nicely. These pieces are performed masterfully, just like the metal tracks on the album. Mors mid-rangey growled vocals fit the music perfectly and the amount of reverb on them does not hurt either. The drums, while doing nothing hugely flashy, suit the music perfectly. The bass guitar is nice and chunky and the guitar performance is superb. The mix of the album is perfect; all the instruments are clear and given enough room to breathe without clouding each other, but are still as dirty and raw as a freshly buried corpse (as death metal should be).

Mere words cannot do this album justice. Simply put, if you are sick of shiny new death metal or are in need of something that truly sounds evil, you have your ticket to the show in this new Necros Christos album. An absolute must have for old-school enthusiasts or newbies looking to pass over to the dark side of real metal of death. This is definitely an album of the year contender for me. 

E.