Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

NECROPHAGOUS - In Chaos Ascend (Review)

1/8/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: The Administrator

Maybe I'm alone in this opinion, but I find high quality death metal albums particularly difficult to review. The standard adjectives feel dead on arrival--"brutal" or "ripping" or "pulverizing" only get you so far with an audience who has heard it all before. Upping the ante in terms of gross-out description is similarly limited: there's only so many ways you can say "cranium-crushing" "intestine-splitting" or "cadaver-licking" before the hyperbole starts feeling stale and copy/pastable. You can only drop so many laundry lists of high-profile acts such as Morbid Angel, Revulsion, Incantation, Dying Fetus, Deicide, Suffocation, Hate Eternal, and motherfuckin' Cannibal Corpse before it starts to sound like comparison for the sake of comparison.

Anyways. enough shop talk. Let's move on to today's high-quality death metal album in question.

In Chaos Ascend is the high-quality debut death metal album from Necrophagous, the result of a musical human centipede situation starring ex-Visceral Bleeding and ex-Entrails members as the component parts. This trio is starting the year with a righteous bang, as In Chaos Ascend is an undeniably high quality death metal album--the kind of album that expectantly sets a bar for others to follow. This beast is brutal and ripping and pulverizing in all the right places, bringing to the table the cranium-crushing, intestine-splitting, and cadaver-licking violent putridity we've come to expect from groups who worship at the altar of OSDM. Necrophagous wear their influence on their collective sleeve, brandishing the foundations and flourishes of legends in the field such as Morbid Angel, Revulsion, Incantation, Dying Fetus, Deicide, Suffocation, Hate Eternal, and (say it with me!) motherfuckin' Cannibal Corpse. It is a high quality death metal album.

The scene-setting of the intro track, which is often a forgettable detail, works quite well here at determining a monstrous ambiance. It's an appropriate warmup for first track proper "Order of the Lion," which is gloriously far from innovative in its approach across much of the breadth, but throws in some unexpected squelches in the back half that serve to interrupt the riff soup and Floridian filth. Followup "At Dawn Thee Immolate" demonstrates the dynamic nature of Necrophagus' riffcraft, giving time to both their frenetic and slimy sides, before eventually slowing things down for a lil' intimate breakdown of sorts. This sense of balance in composition is a strategy that plays nicely against the tracks that are a little more single-minded in their aggression--take the "Traitors And The Pendulum" or the title track's pounding muscularity and speedy forward momentum.  Generally, the whole package is heavy on the groove, both in the form of chunky headbangable riffs and the rolling percussion--look to the barn burning "Wolf Mother" for an example of the sheer kinetic potential this crew packs. Groove aside, there's a certain catchiness buried among the putridity--these high-quality death metal songs have meathooks.
​

​And, while Side A is absolutely stocked, fear not: In Chaos Ascend simply does not fall off. All killer, no filler, as they say. The intense and twisted closer "Wreaker Of Pain" and the decidedly evil (yet deceptively catchy) "The Plague And The Arts"--which features some very nice basswork--are Side B standouts. That said, literally everything here rips. A 45 minute runtime doesn't get much better than this. Truly a high-quality death metal album.

While I'm tempted to bemoan the lacks of solos in the name of variety, Necrophagous aren't really a band that is built for solos, so I can hardly blame 'em for emitting a component that would otherwise fuck with their grinding assault. In any case, the stop-start switches and the numerous breakdowns sprinkled throughout provide enough in the way of ear-catching intrigue. No doubt about it: despite sticking to its OSDM guns without introducing new elements into the fray, this isn't a dull or predictable project.

The past few years have delivered a variety of bands much like Necrophagous, who write albums much like In Chaos Ascend. That is by no means an insult or an attempt to downplay the impact of their work here. Rather, it is a recognition of a delightful and promising trend. We're seeing a great many bands that are not necessarily establishing the highest of high water marks, but are markedly consistent in their slow march towards a version of modern-day death metal that genuinely rivals the progenitors of the style. It's exciting to be in the midst of an overflow of quality, and while 2022 inevitably has a lot more left in the tank, Necrophagous have most certainly started things off on the right foot. I strongly suspect that death metal fans will be coming back to this one pretty consistently throughout the year--and I count myself among that number.

The best way to get me to check out a high quality death metal album is to keep the recommendation exceedingly simple. Sometimes, in favor of brevity, a high quality death metal album is best described as exactly that--a high quality death metal album. But as a clumsily verbose individual, I'll never actually be bold enough to write such an abbreviated review. Needless to say, In Chaos Ascend is a high quality death metal album, and comes highly recommended. 

Necrophagous - In Chaos Ascend was released Jan 7th, 2021 via Transcending Obscurity. Buy it here!

Necrophagous can be found:
​Bandcamp
Facebook
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    WELCOME!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of the music that wakes us from slumber. 
    ​
    Written by a highfalutin peasantry.


    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021

    Categories

    All
    666
    Acid Rock
    Adventure
    Afrobeats
    A High Quality Death Metal Album
    Album Announcement
    Album Premiere
    Album Stream
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt-metal
    Ambient
    Ampwall
    Antifascist
    AOTY
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Beat Tape
    Blackened
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Thrash
    Black Metal
    Black 'n' Roll
    Boom-Bap
    Brooklyn Artemis
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cinematic
    Classic Albums
    Classic Rock
    Compilation Album
    Concept Album
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Cover Song
    Crossover
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cybergrind
    Cyber Metal
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Darksynth
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Deathened Black Metal
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Demo
    Demo Tape
    Desert Rock
    Dissonant Death Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doomviolence
    Dream Metal
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dungeon Synth
    EDM
    Electronic
    Electronica
    Electronicore
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Metal
    Ethereal
    Europower
    Experimental
    Extreme Metal
    Faery-synth
    Family Friendly
    Fantasy
    Folk Metal
    Fresh Meat Friday
    From The Archives
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Goregrind
    Gothic
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Gross Death Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Gym
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Harsh Noise
    Haunting
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hip Hop
    Hip-Hop
    Horror
    Horrorcore
    Indie Rock
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Instrumental
    Instrumental Hip Hop
    Interview
    Jazz
    Jazz Rap
    Lists 2022
    Mars Metal
    Mathcore
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Metal
    Meme Reviews
    Metalcore
    Metallic Hardcore
    Metallic Sludge
    Metal Reviews
    Micro Reviews
    Mini Reviews
    Modern Metal
    Music Video
    Neoclassical Metal
    Noise
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Olde-reviews
    Old-school-death-metal
    On-the-horizon
    Orchestral
    OSDM
    Playlist
    Playlist Curation
    Pop
    Pop Rock
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post-sludge
    Powerdeath
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prog
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Progressive Thrash
    Prog Rock
    Proto-metal
    Psych
    Punk
    Rap
    Rap Reviews
    Raw Black Metal
    Release Day Roundup
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Reviews
    Reviews
    RnB
    Rock
    Rock & Roll
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Shoegaze
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skate Punk
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sludge
    Soundcloud
    Soundtrack
    Speed Metal
    Split Releases
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Stoner Thrash
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Black Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synthwave
    Techdeath
    Technical Death Metal
    Thrash Metal
    Top 10
    Track Premiere
    Track Reviews
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trap
    Trippy
    Two Of A Perfect Pair
    UKHC
    Underground Rap
    USPM
    Year End Lists

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!