Year: 2024
Total Time: 53.57
Label: Century Media
We haven’t even reached mid-2024 yet, and we already have several albums competing for the Top 10 of the year. The Swedish band NECROPHOBIC have also put a strong candidacy with their new album entitled “In The Twilight Grey”. The band that started recording back in the distant 1993 with the excellent debut album “The Nocturnal Silence” which is considered one of the diamonds of that era in the Death Metal subgenre.
Tenth album for Black/Death metallers from Scandinavia after four years and their previous release which was also at a very high level like the current one. Ten songs are in the basic version of the album while in the mediabook version there are two extra songs as bonus. One of them is “The torture never stops”, a cover from the first album of the legendary W. A. S. P. In the spirit of the times, NECROPHOBIC have grasped very well what the fans are asking for today and thus have made a perfect mix of Black and Death Metal with many melodic elements that nowadays is called with the general term Extreme Metal.
The album starts very dynamically with “Grace Of The Past” and continues in the same pace in the next three songs. We have a quartet of very strong songs that leaves no doubt about the quality of the Swedes. Among this quartet are “Clavis Inferni” and “Stormcrow”, two songs that we definitely want to see live. The fifth song of the album is the 7,5 minute long “Shadows Of The Brightest Night” which is probably the strongest moment of the album. The speeds in the second half of the album drop, but the quality of the compositions is still in high level. One riff after the other blends harmoniously with the solos and Sebastian Ramstedt works perfectly with Johan Bergebäck on guitars. Also, the unstoppable, demonic drumming rhythm of Joakim Sterner combined with the vocals of Anders Strokirk win you over from the very first time you listen to the songs. On bass we have Tobias Cristiansson, an experienced musician who needs no introduction from us since his career in the field is enviable.
To sum up, NECROPHOBIC, following the successful recipe of “Dawn Of The Damned”, created an album that is in line with today’s standards and norms that have dominated the metal scene. The album is the hybrid that has developed from the intersection of Melodic Death Metal with Black Metal, which nowadays is in its heyday. The production and composition of the songs is at a very high level that at times the album captivates you.
Rating: 8/10
Editor: Andreas Fytros
Related Link: NECROPHOBIC – Official Page
