### Necrocurse: Grip of the dead

#### 14/08/13 || Ironpants

“Welcome to the death train – next stop… hell!”

Necro! Just by using the word necro in your band name, you’re halfway there. The word itself says more than anything really, just say it… Necro! It’s an old Greek prefix for anything related to death. A very worthy word for using when creating a moniker, there are plenty of “Necro’s” flying around through the history of metal, but these guys are “new”. There is also by a small coincidence that Necrocurse play the same kind of energetic blackened death metal as newcomers Necrowretch, you know that French band that made me loose my marbles a while back with their debut. The big difference is that Necrocurse includes some older farts from the Swedish old guard of metal. Members from Runemagick and Masticator team up with Hellbutcher from Nifelheim as the vocalist.

And by then you should know what’s going on? You get in-your-face death metal from the blackened boys in the class of destruction. After the normal intro with some thunder, wind, bells and choirs and shit you are force fed with classic blackened death with a late 80’s – early 90´s touch. The self named track, “Necrocurse”, is a stinger that sets the pace for the album. And I was sold at once by this track. The chorus is performed by some deep male voices chanting “You are cursed” and in the middle it goes to a mid-paced super-groovy riff, that is so easy, that it’s brilliant.

The production is handled by Andy LaRoque, and there’s not a lot of effects and stuff shoved in this release, it sounds like it’s recorded straight on the spot, and I don’t mean that as a bad thing. It’s a really raw and stripped sound, and it fits the music, and band, perfectly.

If you like Hellbutcher’s voice, you will praise the horned one for this album, he’s having a prime time on this recording and spews out his evil, malicious messages with the recognizable hissing voice that he has perfected in Nifelheim through the years. The vocals present a constant pouring of hellfire over your poor soul. And alright, there is no Nobel Prize in literature material, but it’s not supposed to be either. These guys know what they are after, it’s your “soul” – your “metal-soul”. We all have one, some are darker than others, mine is long gone though, but even my feeble mind can appreciate this.

Because, there is an aura of “joy” in this album, you can hear that the guys love this, even if it’s pretty fast and grim material all the way through this album, you hear that they are having a good time. The playful energy shines through and the riffs are pretty catchy…or wait, they ARE catchy as hell. It is an art form in itself to compose fast, brutal, death metal and still keep it memorable and down to earth.

“The devil cobra” has an magnificent beginning, with a slow, heavy down-picking riff that is so simple, that even a beginner of the trade would hesitate before using it, and then when the song kicks in for real, you are in for a ride. They use very simple and old tricks to lure you into the trap off catchy death metal riffs. Check it out here

I won’t lie to you, there is nothing new here, you get the references from the older stuff you remember having heard before. But if you want to forget about overproduced plastic little weirdos with stylish hairdos and top brand baseball jackets, designer jeans and neon colored t-shirts, this is what you need. Necrocurse serves you with some 40 minutes of pure antichristian letting-off-steam plain old school blackened death metal. There is plenty of rusty, basic, primordial riffing here to let you release some pressure in the old fashioned way of headbanging like a maniac with horns up.

- Information
- Released: 2013
- Label: Pulverised Records
- Website: www.necrocurse.com
- Band
- Per “Hellbutcher” Gustavsson: vocals
- Martin Andersson: guitars
- Stefan Rodin: guitars
- Johan Bäckman: bass
- Nicklas Rudolfsson: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Preludium of devastation
- 02. Necrocurse
- 03. Rotten in the dark
- 04. The devil cobra
- 05. Ripping darkness (The destroyer)
- 06. Death metal rebels
- 07. Morbid maniacs
- 08. Speed to the grave
- 09. Grip of the dead
- 10. Coffin breakers
- 11. Infernal rebellion