{"id":26162,"date":"2015-02-16T00:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-02-16T00:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=26162"},"modified":"2015-03-25T18:01:44","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T18:01:44","slug":"album-review-necrowretch-with-serpents-scourge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-necrowretch-with-serpents-scourge\/","title":{"rendered":"NECROWRETCH – With Serpents Scourge (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

NECROWRETCH
With Serpents Scourge<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCentury Media (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Putrid Death Sorcery<\/em><\/a> was the impressive 2013 debut opus from French band Necrowretch. For me, it was a classy slab of horrid black \/ death metal featuring some wondrously morbid vocal rasps and a general cavernous sound that grew on me with each listen like a deadly fungus.<\/p>\n

In 2014 the band released an impressive EP entitled Even Death May Die<\/em>, which in a sense was just a taste of what horrors to come with this wicked work. And so with With Serpents Scourge<\/em>, we brace ourselves for another frightful experience into the realms of decay and dismal cacophony. Nine tracks, 35 minutes and a black slimy stain left on the carpet because once again this formidable trio has come up with the goods. <\/p>\n

When I listen to death metal, I want to be dragged into some dank dungeon and literally aurally tortured by the sounds. I want the guitar sound to race and bludgeon and yet always remain damp and cold, and behind that noise I crave the percussive echoes of a drummer who has eight mutated arms and batters the skin like a serial killer pounding a skull. And next to this madman, I want to hear a bass that rumbles with formidable aplomb and backs a vocalist whose sneer sounds as if he\u2019s spent the duration of his life chewing on rusty nails. And y\u2019know what? Necrowretch ticks the box in every sadistic department.<\/p>\n

Fast flurries of occult-tinged anguish, melodious excerpts of methodical cavernous horror and impure bursts of grimness are the order of the day here for a band that just keeps on going from strength to strength. Indeed, my first teaser for this affair was via the ungodly strains of \u2018The Bells Of Evil Schism\u2019; a black thrashing dose of scathing death metal featuring an abrasive guitar grate; a hammering drum and Vlad\u2019s tortured yaps. Incorporating a ghoulish melody also helps too, and that comes to the fore here as the band initially starts out as a flailing echo of witchery before that nice injection of fusty slowness. <\/p>\n

There are many of you of course who would have already heard \u2018Even Death May Die\u2019 too, which featured on that two-track teaser EP alongside a cool cover of Slayer<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Black Magic\u2019, but \u2018Even Death May Die\u2019 is a track I cannot get enough of. Wicked throughout, it features a vicious drum kick and that utterly putrid air caused by that drum, bass and vocal tangle which results in a speedy, satanic nastiness.<\/p>\n

The opus also offers up more satanic majesty in the form of the furious opener \u2018Black Death Communion\u2019 which literally drips with Gothic gloom, but whereas previously I was keen to compare such labours of evil to Autopsy, this platter has a far spikier melodrama, marrying that expected morbid air with a truly spikey speed. \u2018Feast Off Their Doom\u2019 again showcases that combination of doom-laden atmospherics with typically fast death metal expression, while the title track offers up a dingy slice of classic death metal to some extent, hinting at classic Death but incorporating their own unique fustiness and hate.<\/p>\n

Applaud must be aimed towards drummer Ilmar who on \u2018By Evil And Beyond\u2019 offers up a series of jazzy rolls, but for the most part the instrumentation is kept reasonably simple throughout \u2013 at times bordering on a classic Slayer-like impending dread in some of the opening riffs while always maintaining that snarling arrogance. <\/p>\n

With Serpents Scourge<\/em> is the natural next step for a band that is quickly becoming one of the most respected within their field, because while nodding to those old school values, Necrowretch is also kicking a majority of contemporary acts and glossy designs up their arse. This is a lethal concoction from a band hell-bent on causing ear destruction. Fast, hideous and sodden with gloom, With Serpents Scourge<\/em> is one mean manifestation you do not want to mess with.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NECROWRETCHWith Serpents Scourge Century Media (2015)Rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[647],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-necrowretch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26162"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26168,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26162\/revisions\/26168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}