NECROPHOBIC - In The Twilight Grey (Review)

Written by: Blackie Skulless

​If you know my taste at least relatively well, you’ll know that the later Necrophobic output is something I’ve come to love. Mark Of The Necrogram may be my favorite album since the debut, and the latest, Dawn Of The Damned, marched through with a flame nearly as hot. That takes us to In The Twilight Grey, being the Swedes’ tenth album overall, following the release patterns we’ve gotten their whole career. Going in, I was certainly curious to see which direction it would go, since the last two took the “don’t fix what ain't broke” route.

Stylistically, there isn’t a whole lot of breaking away from the black/death style that the outfit has perfected several times. Much of Necrophobic’s career has been pretty consistent, with mild changes for the better or worse, and maybe a few experiments (ok, I guess I just contradicted myself a little). Thus, we find ourselves with another release full of sharply produced guitars built on tremolos and steep chugging. Backing this tactic up with explosive and impressive, albeit one-sided drum kicks meets the same deep and raspy but comprehensible vocal style, somewhat opting for a third iteration of what worked wonderfully before.

---

However, I won’t act like In The Twilight Grey has no innovation of its own. The Swedes are no strangers to implementing epic moods when necessary, but I find it to be just the right amount of noticeable here. “Stormcrow” even has a softer middle, leading into one of the brightest solos on the record, and “As Stars Collide” adds hints of melancholy with cooler passages to this angle. In other words, I may say there’s a slightly emphasized focus on melody this time around. Moreover, the suspense added, shown in the likes of the monstrous title track and “Shadows Of The Brightest Night” really helped cement this identity, utilizing the longer runtimes well. They both absolutely master showering us with blackened energy despite using a cleaner crawl.
​

​I won’t pretend this is anything mind blowing, as it hardly deviates from what’s come before. If I’m being as honest as I can, it maybe even could have stood to be a song or two shorter. However, it’s a great record through and through, leaving the same deep impression as they’ve been, covered in hues that perhaps focus on dark, macabre, and mystic subjects as a whole rather than just hellfire and Satan. All things considered, I really couldn’t ask for much else.

Necrophobic - In The Twilight Grey was released March 15th, 2024 via Century Media.Find it here!

---

Necrophobic can be found:
Bandcamp
​Facebook