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Release Date: 2012
Genre: Progressive / Melodic Death Metal
Location: Long Island NY
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Necropia! Necropia! Necropia! It’s all I can say to people right now, as I desperately plead with you all to invest some of your time, internet usage and even some spare change if you really feel like being a sport. These guys are bringing a creative, innovative and above all else, punishing release to the masses in their generous 7 track self titled EP, “Necropia”, with track after track of something new and exciting for the listener to wrap their ears around and really get a good feel for, allowing you to sit and hear all the influences you can think of at work in playing a small role into sculpting the way Necropia have written this release.
Bands like Rings Of Saturn play a part with the vocal side of things, as the vocalist sounds like an almost note for note twin of ROS’s former Vocalist, delivering dark, harrowing lows that inspire a barely containable blood lust that must be executed on the closest living thing, joined hand in hand with the same styled highs as Pre ‘Desolation Of Eden’ Alex Koheler (Chelsea Grin), the same raspy highs that sound as if they are putting the vocalist through tremendous physical distress. THIS is made very evident within the second track “The Daily Dose” as the reverb is mixed ever so subtly with the vocals to really pack a resounding punch to the listeners face, that simply keeps on punching, leaving the listener feeling reminiscent of as a child, coming up against Balrog in SNES’s ‘Super Street Fighter’, ie: Your face punched to shit.
The resounding high impact tracks just keep coming one after the other, with my personal favorite ‘Mfish’, displaying similar guitar work to early ‘Ennui Breathes Malice’ (When they weren’t ridiculous..) as the high end scales come into play quite profusely before channeling back seamlessly into the same vicious lows that leave your jaw locked tight. However, these drums also bear some resemblance to early Thy Art Is Murder, with the intricate kicks being tracked to perfection, as well as the same bell implementation just before a drop to add a sense of comic relief to the fact that you are getting bashed once again by Necropia. IT IS however, evident that Necropia have fallen victim to the same trap that claimed Ennui Breaths Malice’s very career (As far as I am concerned) and that is, trying to over complicate a simple heavy, slamming metal song, with so many technical fills and mundane scales that would make the listener swear that Jack Black had taken over for a quarter of each song, like clockwork.
Production wise, this album is meeting all the modern standards of a brilliant sound and mix quality that is becoming not so much “easier” to attain these days, but rather more common, as it is becoming more prominent, fortunately for Necropia, their mix is above this medium, and sits on the higher shelf of exceptional production shared with the likes of ‘Empires Fall’s – ‘The Tyrants Genocide’, and Chelsea Grin’s ‘Evolve’.
The final product find’s the right balance between well layers vocals being the focus point, with the crushing drums coming in second, and a ruthless guitar tone third. This makes the EP much more listenable as you are not constantly getting bombarded by different instruments being destroyed on record like most Grind bands tend to do. So then, the vocals are world class, the guitars are cheesy at times, and in random areas can sound almost like a terribly lame (Iamer) rip off of Dragon Force, the same dragon fighting magic casting sword sharpening kind of sound that we all know and….love?, but ultimately it’s uncannily fitting in the overall sound of the EP. The drums are spot on, with the same breakdown patterns that Resist The Thought used most of their ‘Damnation’ EP, and the same tone being implemented as well, Necropia however, do it better.
Necropia is one of those bands that have the potential to be huge, and I mean, HUGE given the right support from a label, or landing a few cheeky spots on some bigger, more notable bills. Though, I have no doubt that in time and some future refining of their sound, they will have little problems accomplishing that feat on their own feet, pardon the pun. Expecting large things to come for Necropia’s future, and am glad to have found a new band to take up some valuable car driving iPod rotation time. Would you dig Necropia? Sure, if you are fans are Resist The Thought, Chelsea Grin, Thy Art Is Murder, Shinto Katana, and even Rings Of Saturn to some stretching degree (More vocals than anything).
Rating: 9/10