Necralant

Necralant burst onto the underground Massachusetts extreme metal scene in late 2020 with this debut self-titled record. Lead by Nolan Harold writing all the music and lyrics and playing all the instruments, and fronted by Marc Vray Jr., an extremely prolific musician in the Worcester metal scene, the duo put together a fine slab of old school classic black metal. The group has since gone on to release another full-length studio album, "Temples of Ruin," another single, and have gone through a few lineup changes. How does their debut hold up after almost 4 years? Let's find out:

The album kicks off with "The Reigning Fear," a fairly straightforward black metal cut that doesn't stand out too much but sets the tone for the record perfectly. It tells you right from the jump that this band is here to bring you some old school black metal and not mess around. While the track itself doesn't do anything crazy fancy, the closing heavy riffs are a true highlight. The follow-up, "In a Grim Time," is a common live track for the group. This song shows the true strength of Necralant, which is catchy, memorable riffs. The slower pace and flowing progression sticks in your head long after the album concludes and becomes an absolute anthem at a live show. The pickup in tempo towards the end of the track gives it a nice kick before settling comfortably back into the main riff. This track's biggest strength truly is the vocals, where Marc Vray Jr. stands out incredibly with his super raspy classic-sounding black metal voice.

"Descending to Power" continues with the catchiness with an almost surf rock-feel main riff that gives it a real nice groove. This ended up being one of the more fun moments on the album and was a nice connection to the distant roots of black metal. Once again, the closing of the track is the biggest stand out, where it goes against the song's originally set vibe to build upon it and give it more kick and energy. Energy is another quintessential element to Necralan't sound, which is then again seen on songs like "To Dust..." and "Host for a Black Mass." Both of these songs provide an adrenaline boost that make a listener ready to sprint through a brick wall. "Host for a Black Mass" Is Necralant's biggest song, and for great reason. The opening riff and cymbal chokes get the energy set to 11 and ready to blast off. The main riff retains a simple and catchy melody that hooks in the listener before the song hits a halt at the triplet section to turn the song on it's head and keep the listener engaged. Vray Jr.'s vocals stand out great here again, carrying the energy of the guitars and drums into a dark raspy bark that pushes the song along. The closing to the song shows the prowess of Nolan on guitar with a very well-crafted selection of notes in a simple yet memorable lead. The song is huge for a reason, and takes everything this album and band does best and perfects it.

Unfortunately, some of the momentum kind of gets lost with the instrumental ambient track right before "Host" with "The Firmament." By the end it settles into itself with the creepy atmosphere, but at first it comes as a bit of left-field track without quite understanding where it wants to go. The track justified itself by the end with the clipping production to add the creepiness factor and feel right at home. This song does highlight the biggest issue of this album, however, which is the mastering, or lack thereof. Many songs start with guitar buzz and take a few seconds for the first note to begin, making the album feel slightly unfinished. The songs themselves have varying levels of volume, the most glaring being "The Firmament" to "Host for a Black Mass," where the former is significantly quieter than the rest of the record and hard cuts to potentially the loudest song on the album.

The 6-minute closer "Destruction Ritual" starts pretty straight forward to most of the other tracks on here, leaving plenty of space for the instruments to set the tone before the vocals kick in. Once the song settles into a groove, it really feels like some classic "Under a Funeral Moon"-era Darkthrone in the best ways possible. The more melodic riff in the middle was a great way to break up the pace for a moment before heading back into the repetition of the main riff, which was executed flawlessly. Nolan sets a tone for the song and continues it perfectly through the whole song length. The closing riff caps off with a slight pace change before coming to a close, ending another highlight.

While it's a little clear this is a debut record and the group was working through some teething, there's a lot to like here for this being a first effort. The songs that stand out, particularly the last three vocal tracks, truly stand out, and show just how great Necralant can be. They extend this greatness into their next record "Temples of Ruin," improving many of the small shortcomings on here to create a more cohesive record, but that's not to diminish how great of a debut this truly is. The album has many successful songs and sounds here that still get the love and appreciation they deserve to this day, and with an EP and a third album hopefully on the horizon soon, the band is set up on a super strong foundation to create a landmark record that continues to perfect the sound developed first here. Overall, an incredible start for a young band.