The perfect combination of black and death metal is something that makes this album one of the best so far this year. Song that bought me and made me listen to this record was Tsar Bomba, one of the catchiest songs on here, but what made me so intrigued was that first song, called like the album itself, Mark Of The Necrogram. Its so melodic, so gaze-y, but in the same time brutal as fuck. I like how it was designed like some sort of perfect segue into the rest of the album, and in the same time, you can't stop listening after that song, really a masterpiece, and one of the best intros to an album I heard. Overall, this album is really well produced and its very suitable for melodic death metal, you can hear everything clearly. From the song writing angle, its fine, not the best, the same applies to music structure as well, but this is one of the examples that, you don't have to be only progressive or technical to be good. So if you like melodic blackened death metal, this is a gem!
About them:
Swedish death metal band Necrophobic were formed in 1989 by drummer Joakim Sterner and guitarist David Parland. The pair played with a revolving-door lineup of musicians before the permanent addition of guitarist Martin Halfbahn prior to recording their debut album, The Nocturnal Silence, in 1993. Following the addition of vocalist/bassist Tobias Sidegard, Necrophobic released the four-song Spawned by Evil in 1996 as a teaser for the full-length release Darkside, which bowed later that same year. Third Antichrist was released in fall 2000 through Black Mark Records, but it marked the fourth release from the group to be mishandled by their U.S. distributors. A switch to Hammerheart Records led to Bloodhymns, the first of their traditional death metal releases to see American shores through the label. Hrimthursum arrived in 2006 via Regain Records/Candlelight USA, with the critically acclaimed Death to All dropping in 2009 -- Satanic Blasphemies, a compilation of the band's early material, was released the year prior. Necrophobic continued to flex their blackened death metal muscles in 2013 on the full-length Womb of Lilithu, and again in 2018 with the release of the triumphant Mark of the Necrogram, their first outing for Century Media.
Source: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/necrophobic-mn0000384703/biography
Line up:
Anders Strokirk - Vocals
Alexander Friberg - Bass
Sebastian Ramstedt - Guitar
Johan Bergebäck - Guitar
Joakim Sterner - Drums
Links:
https://necrophobic.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/necrophobic.official
http://www.necrophobic.net/
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Necrophobic - Mark Of The Necrogram / Century Media Records