(written by Islander)
Our suspicion is that anyone would have great difficulty finding any adult anywhere in the world who thinks things are just swell. Even billionaires who blare their opinions always seem to find something about modern life that offends them. Less well-heeled people feel genuine anxiety, anger, or despair, though depending on where they are on the political spectrum and the information they consume (or choose to ignore), the causes and solutions vary dramatically.
Here is what drives the Italian death metal band Necrocene, as described in materials distributed to people like us on behalf of their label Personal Records:
There is a crushing weight bearing down on the globe presently, an unbridled destruction that breeds indifference. It is from this bleak reality that NECROCENE draw their breath, subverting geological terminology into a grim political statement on the unstoppable, death-driven momentum of modern capitalism. This overarching thematic rot directly shapes the band’s sonic architecture. Rejecting modern hyper-technical virtuosity, NECROCENE deliver a style of death metal that is deliberately pedantic, abrasive, and deeply rooted in the genre’s foundational essence.
That description concerns Necrocene’s debut album Scumocracy, which follows their Detrimental Paratomy EP and which Personal Records has set for release on September 18th. Those themes resonate here, and so does the music, which (again to quote the press materials) “translate[s] their shared counter-cultural roots into severe musical weight” and “transforms concepts of social decay and technological obsolescence into a perfect, clear-sighted manifestation of a world careening toward its final, self-inflicted epoch.”
We have an example of this today in our premiere of the album’s title song.
“Scumocracy” (the song) manifests changing moods as it advances. At the outset it is a hulking and heaving menace, a threatening yet also bleak manifestation that becomes even more bleak when a shrill lead guitar feverishly wails through the heavily stomping beats, the cavernous bass undulations, and the gnarled riffage. The riffing also begins to feverishly vibrate, and to become more desolate in its mood as it does so.
As increasingly hopeless as this all sounds, “Scumocracy” is also an angry song, and that comes through as Necrocene accelerate the pace, with drums brutally hammering, the abrasive guitars delivering frantic jolts and dismal moans, and the vocals expelling wild howls and vicious roars.
The band switch back and forth between these two opening phases of the song once more, and then, following a furiously sizzling tremolo’d bridge, they take off again in an even more intense expression of blood-rushing fury that makes powerful use of some of the jolting and tremolo-driven riffs and enraged vocals they’ve already introduced.
The band also continue to adapt their riffs and rhythms, creating a gripping intersection of bleakness and blazing mayhem and thus demonstrating serious songwriting flair, while also revealing the influence of Floridian death metal from days of yore. This will likely get stuck in your head, as it did mine:
NECROCENE Lineup:
Ste – drums
Apo – vocals
Alex – guitar
Joy – guitar
Dan – bass
Personal Records will release Scumocracy on CD and digital formats. For more info and to order the album, visit the locations linked below, and also partake of the first single from the album, “Ordinary Enemy“, which streams after the links.
PRE-ORDER:
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/scumocracy
NECROCENE:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100091964531943