Review by Sandre the Giant
Glasgow’s Necrocracy have been a band that I followed quite closely up to about the pandemic times, to which I completely missed their debut record ” in 2019, to my eternal shame (don’t worry, I fixed that error on the run up to this!) and I’m now jumping straight back in with their newest work, ‘Predestiny’, which is out now self released.
The opening title track is a blast of sinewy, molten black/death metal; serpentine black riffs cascade beneath a haunting atmosphere while death growls roar and snarl. Relentless blasting and creative songwriting is the perfect start, as you’ll see in ‘Curse the Zealous’ and ‘War of Each Against All’ as well, the battering is consistent but the execution varies a lot. Sometimes there’s a little guitar heroics, others it’s an oddly epic riff, or . Somehow Necrocracy have managed to find away of combining second wave black metal with thrashy, Autopsy-like death metal and made it work. That sludgy Autopsy influence comes to the fore in the groaning ‘That Dreary Hour’, which also has the merest touch of latter period Satyricon too. Necrocracy’s real talent however is how each song sounds obviously and markedly different from each other, but still keeping a cohesive sound throughout. They power through classic black metal, doomy death metal, even a dash of classic doom on mighty closer ‘Ecstatic Reprobation’.
‘Predestiny’ is a fanstic record, reinforcing the strength of Necrocracy’s songwriting and ethos and sacrificing none of their early raw power. A superb take on black/death that isn’t just sucking the life from Bathory and Sodom but instead carving their own path through other influences that hold just as much weight. As always, leave it to us Scots to figure out how to do things better! ‘Predestiny’ is one of those records that will stick with you because of that difference, and that’s what I love about it.
https://www.facebook.com/NecrocracyOfficial/
https://necrocracymetal.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 