(written by Islander)
Let’s pause for a moment to admire the artwork created by Max Sherman for Necropanther’s new album The Book of Change.
More than a moment, actually, because it takes a more careful inspection to comprehend the detailed rendering of spiky crab-like legs and swirling tentacles, of pointed teeth and skull-like growths, of multiple eyes and sprawling coral-like creepiness. The colors are wonderful as well, including the shade of green that backstops all the alien weirdness in the forefront.
If you’re new to the musical works of Necropanther, you might wonder what the connection is (or if there is any connection) between that artwork and this Denver band’s music. Is it intended to signal something about what you’ll hear? Is it rooted in some way to the songs’ lyrical themes?
We’ll venture answers to those questions, and we’ll share comments from the band that shed further light on what they’ve gotten up to on this new album, but our main focus today is on the song we’re premiering today, whose title does seem to tie in very well to what’s on the album cover: “The Thing From Another World“.
Photo by Josh Massara, Permanent Ephemera Photography
Let’s begin with guitarist Joe Johnson’s insights about the album as a whole:
“The Book Of Change explores this concept of metamorphosis from classic science fiction, horror and literary works, including The Tempest, The Thing, The Fly, Faust, and the video game Rampage. These works inspired us to explore something new that focused on physical transformation, evolution, body horror, and the strangeness of things that are new and unknown.”
As for how Necropanther’s new music connects with these themes, your first clue is in the song’s previously released opening track, “The Tempest“, which you’ll be able to hear in the music player we’re using for our premiere stream today. Turning back to Joe Johnson, here’s what he said about it:
“This track is partially inspired by the opening scene of the Shakespeare play of the same name. A ship is caught in a sorcery-induced storm. We’ve often embraced maritime themes as a band, so this is our storm to bring in the record. The Shakespeare play was inspired by a failed expedition to Bermuda, and the first few songs of the record echo some of those ideas: change and transformation, bargains, and the uncanny consequences of ambition which lead us eventually to monsters and discoveries that are more contemporary.”
In this song Necropanther do indeed create a sorcery-induced storm of sound. The rhythm section furiously generate tumult in the low end while the guitars viciously shiver and maniacally blare. As roaring and screaming vocals arrive, the riffing transforms into a blackened whirlpool of torrential power and acidic intensity.
The vocals continue manifesting madness and terror, veering across a range of spine-tingling barbarities, while the riffing and the rhythms continue to vividly veer as well. To mix the metaphors, the song is a musical kaleidoscope as well as an eye-popping tempest, though its high-octane energy never dissipates.
You’ll also get a chance to bang your head silly before it’s over, and to have your eyes roll back in your banging head thanks to a spectacular guitar solo. Hell, the whole song is a spectacle, and a highly infectious one too. And it provides an immediate sign of how well Necropanther merge ingredients of death metal, black metal, and thrash into a cohesive whole.
Now let’s turn to “The Thing From Another World“, once again preceded by Joe Johnson’s statements:
“This is our sprawling set piece for the middle of the record – I guess ‘sprawling’ is a relative term for a band like us. It’s a lean, direct blackened thrash song with a multi-partite orchestrated melodic middle section. One of the things that’s fun to me about this one is that we break down the song, and then build that melody together. Paul and I play the harmony part together, and then I take a solo.
“We love Thin Lizzy and Helloween-influenced melodic metal, so that moment of harmony feels great, and I can’t wait to play it live. As a soloist, the changes are fairly harmonically challenging, which is something we’ve done a few times on this record, so it’s great for me to get to have that build into a key, develop the theme, change keys and bring it back to the recapitulation.
“’The Thing from Another World‘ is literally a shapeshifting creature, so in terms of the narrative arc of the record, I think of it as a modern, materialistic manifestation of otherworldly diabolical consequences from some of the historic misdeeds and bargains we see in stories like The Tempest or Faust. You called down the thunder – now you’ve got it!”
Need we say anything more about the song? Of course not, but of course we will!
Like “The Tempest“, this one is a high-octane romp — and like the cover art, it’s very colorful. After a couple of percussive blasts it jumps from the gate with drums galloping and a fleet-fingered riff that pulsates, sizzles, and squirms. Once again, the vocals expel monstrous roars, hair-on-fire screams, and strangled snarls, like a bestiary choir. Once again, the band rhythmically vault and veer, and they switch up the tempos and the riffs repeatedly so that heads will not stop spinning.
Here too you’ll find another connection to the cover art besides the general colorfulness and sharp-fanged viciousness of the music: It includes an extended solo that’s freakishly alien in addition to being technically jaw-dropping, wildly inventive, and jubilantly wild. It’s likely to leave you smiling broadly (and possibly drooling).
NECROPANTHER is:
Paul Anop – guitar, vocals
Marcus Corich – bass, vocals
Joe Johnson – guitar
Adam Frost – drums
The Book Of Change was produced by Necropanther; it was engineered by Felipe Patino at Green Door Recordings in Denver; it was mixed by Kurt Ballou (Converge, Isis, Mastodon, High On Fire etc.) at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts; and it was mastered by Alan Douches (Converge, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Chelsea Wolfe, Zeal & Ardor etc.) at West West Side Music in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York.
The album is set for release on November 13th and you can order it now. It comes recommended for fans of Skeletonwitch, Nightwraith, Horrendous, Warbringer, and Revocation.
PRE-ORDER:
https://necropanther.bandcamp.com/album/the-book-of-change
NECROPANTHER:
https://www.necropanther.com
https://www.facebook.com/Necropanther
https://www.instagram.com/necropanther