I know this is pretty late, as the album is already released, but since nobody else seems to be talking about this, I figured I would. The previous Necrophobic album, "Womb of Lilithu", was my favorite album released in 2013 - but still, I think they managed to blow that one out of the water with "Mark of the Necrogram". Musically, it could be described as a fusion of the two very best Necrophobic albums..."The Nocturnal Silence" and "Hrimthursum". This leads into the lineup, which is what made me very excited for the album. I liked Folkare fine, but the return of Ramstedt & Bergeback really brings back that classic Necrophobic sound if you ask me...and most exciting of all, is the return of Anders Strokirk, aka the vocalist on "The Nocturnal Silence". I always loved his performance on that album, and while his voice lacks the more brutal, death metal qualities that Tobias Sidegard possessed (if Chuck Schuldiner went black metal) and thus isn't quite as distinctive, he easily makes up for that in the sheer intensity and conviction of his voice...taking that into account, I think he blows away Sidegard easily.

Overall, I think this is a very good album, with lots of variety. There also seems to be a bit more death metal in the mix than usual, at least I thought so, as can be heard in "Odium Caecum" & "Requiem for a Dying Sun".





Has anyone else heard the album, if so, what are your thoughts?

I listened to it on youtube the other night and really liked it. In fact I'd say it blows away their last few albums; agreed about the high variety in sound.

This new album rules and I will be listening to it several times today. Necrophobic is one of the best bands in their style, and from what I've heard already this album delivers hard.

I'm on my first listen of this now and loving it so far. I've only ever listened to their first two records, but the cover art drew me in on this. It's pretty much perfectly executed melodic black metal. As long as the rest of the album is just as good, I'll be returning to it a lot.

I mentioned this in the worthwhile albums of 2018 thread yesterday, Mark of the Necrogram is definitely one of Necrophobic's best. Where I would slot it in their catalog, I'm still not sure, but it's one of my favorites so far this year.

I’ve mentioned them several times as well. I just saw them on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise and they were phenomenal. Met Anders Strokirk and he was extremely gracious. I absolutely love the new album and I feel it has kind of a summary of their career all wrapped into one album. They are the pinnacle band in this style and one of my ultimate favs. I’ll just drop the live video I took here of Tsar Bomba from the Pyramid Lounge.

I don't know if it will top The Nocturnal Silence but this album is definitely the best I've heard from Necrophobic outside of that classic piece. I 100% recommend anyone who is even a little bit into black metal to give this a listen.

To be fair, topping The Nocturnal Silence is a virtual impossibility regardless of what they do.

Sold out already from local retailer. Need to wait a week.

Ridiculous to even consider TNS could be topped.

No, not really. It's just an expression of a personal, subjective opinion. Not that serious.

No doubt. I should have been more diplomatic in my choice of words.

necrophobic have put out a tremendous album after having left me cold for quite some years. everything seems right about this one, songs, production, cover artwork, just everything. seems like those two new old guitarists have brought some fresh wind into the band. it's always amazing when a band going for so long manage to put out fresh material.
just ordered the record in the store.

The new one sounds pretty good. Several steps above the last couple. And I'd agree that nothing short of a biblical type Easter story involving Parland would have any chance of coming near TNS (and I'm not sure that would be anywhere near enough either).

They're a consistently great band, who have released no bad albums, in my opinion. I have followed them since their debut came out and enjoy all their releases. Obviously some are better than others, as is the case with every band, but none of their albums have been poor. Their last album, Womb of Lilithu received the lowest score on MA, but even that was good (although slightly overlong - as was Hrimthursum - no Death Metal album needs to be an hour or more in length). Really looking forward to getting Mark of the Necrogram. Having Bergeback and Ramstedt back made me very excited. And along with the return of Anders this could well be my album of the year - and I’ve not even heard it yet. Lol

I'm excited to give this one a listen. Womb of Lilithu was a huge disappointment. The singles were promising, but the album itself was terribly bloated with regrettable cover art. At 20 minutes less with a wicked cover and returning members, this looks to be an improvement. Too bad, Century Media's US store only has the CD available now, but I'll get my hands on it nonetheless.

This band is very close to get science degree "Master of boooooring albums".

P.S.
Tsar-Bomba is AWESOME!!!

It's been awhile since I've followed this genre, but this album is definitely reminding me why I loved it in the first place. I've got Tsar Bomba blaring in my lab right now!

I hate to be "that guy" but I really don't think it's that great. There are some good songs on there and it is definitely better than Womb of Lilithu but overall it doesn't hold my interest from start to finish like Death to All did. Other than the first two albums and Death to All I don't really like much else from Necrophobic. No matter how many times I have tried their other albums I just can't get into any of them.



Well, David Parland wrote almost the entire album, and, in addition to being out of the band pretty much since 1996, he's also dead. So it's not really reasonable for anyone to ever expect them to write an album like that again.

Seriously killer album. Some of the best songs they've ever written imo.

No issue with being "that guy" in that case. I know some people who absolutely hated Womb of Lillithu and I personally would like to know if the return of Sebastian and Johan was enough to turn things around.

its a fun record but im not entirely pleased with the production