necrophobic death to all

Released: 08 June 2009 Label: Regain Records

Death to All marks twenty years since Sweden’s black / death / thrash band Necrophobic first formed and spawned their first demos, though the band now features only one original member in drummer Joakim Sterner.

This current line-up featured members who have previously played in such luminaries of the Swedish scene as Morpheus, Dismember and Nifelheim. Much like both Dismember and Nifelheim Necrophobic have never strayed too far from their signature sound and wear their early Slayer and Dissection influences plainly on their sleeves. Despite wearing their influences so blatantly what always marked out Necrophobic amongst other similar, but lesser, bands was their amazingly melancholic guitar melodies which added a different dimension alongside the moments of heads down thrashing and thunderous mid-paced riffs that were near enough guaranteed to get your head banging.

That being said, previous album Hrimthursum did see them broadening their horizons somewhat and employing a greater sense of dynamics than they had previously and Death to All carries on with that but marries it to the more aggressive nature of previous albums. Necrophobic add nothing new to extreme metal but that’s not the point, they do what they do very well and in this sphere of music they’re amongst the very best combining headbanging riffs, surprisingly catchy guitar lines, pure aggression and even a sense of grandeur at times into well written, memorable songs as well as anyone.


by Neil Woodfin