Nekromantheon are a bunch of Norweigans who play old school
brutal thrash in the vein of Dark Angel, and they are very competent at what
they do. Practically every song these guys ever beat out of their instruments
would feel just as natural if it had actually been made in the late 80s-early 90s.
But Nekromantheon have only been around since 2005. So, yes, what we have here
is an emulation. It has been a trend in metal in the 21st century to
hark back to the good old days and bring back old school sounds in every
subgenre (eg. Witchcraft, Electric Wizard, Insinnerator, Violator, and
thousands of death metal bands), and then call it a “New Wave” of that
subgenre. And hey, that’s pretty cool. After all, it’s not like old school
thrash doesn’t kick The Haunted’s arse. And it’s a nice, tributary thing to do,
as well. As far as I have seen, though, none of these thrash bands have
actually furthered the genre (like Electric Wizard did with doom metal).
You get the sense nothing is meant to push the envelope
here, only keep the torch alive. Instruments are tight and the thrashing is
relentless – no Black Album-esque farting about, no sir, thank fuck. It’s
raw, fast, frantic and furious (what thrash is meant to be, right?) and I
especially like the old school vocals with plenty of echo on ‘em. I found the
riffs to be a bit more memorable on the debut LP, but this is undeniably deadly
music.
In summary: Thrash fans will love this, it’s
old-school-as-fuck. No bullshit, just dirty, superspeed, evil thrash.
Standout tracks: Embrace the Oracle, Coven of the Minotaur
Score: 8.0
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