Black as Pitch

After the great comeback with “Mater Of All Evil”, it was time for Necrodeath to release another album of the same quality level. Well, “Black as Pitch” full length is even more brutal than “Mater Of All Evil”! Fantastic!

“Red As Blood” song already gives us a rough idea of what we will face in this new effort. Flegias’ screams are always powerful and black metal oriented; the guitars sound is dense, thrash inspired and a bit “Swedish”. The tempo is generally fast and the few melodies are always obscure and occult. The refrains in violent songs like “Riot Of Stars” or “Mortal Consequence” are always catchy and extremely obscure.

The main riff on “Burn And Deny” is slow, evil and fucking heavy. The drums are quite “essential” but never boring. Here we can find the first acoustic guitar parts overlapped to the electric ones, in order to create an even more obscure sound. The slow and growl voices are great. The mid paced riffs are so scary in the atmosphere they create and sometimes they are followed by odd, melodic lead guitar lines.

“Sacrifice 2K1” is a re-recorded version of “Eucharistical Sacrifice” that you can find on “Fragments Of Insanity” album. This new version is more powerful thanks also to a great production, without losing anything in the gloomy impetus. Great song. “Process Of Violation” is a hit: slow, evil, obscure with that whispered vocals followed by the intense, violent refrain. The guitars draw a landscape of hell, flames and black. The slow guitar tapping and arpeggios are terrific.

The quartet “Anagaton”, “Killing Time”, “Saviours Of Death” and “Join The Pain” is incredible for violence and speed. The up tempo parts are mixed with slower ones, some with the same acoustic guitar melodies. They are so scary with the whispered vocals united to a great wall of sound created by the electric guitars. Inhale the stench of sulphur through these songs!

The majestic “Church’s Black Book” ends this album. This song is pure pleasure. All the good things done in an album come together to join their forces in creating a perfect piece of obscurity. The beginning is fucking slow with the bells sound and the never so heavy and brutal guitars. After awhile the tempo increases in speed and violence ‘till ending in the refrain followed by a melodic guitar break. The final part is dedicated to all the murders operated by the Church in the centuries: a voice narrates the massacres and the “reasons” given by the Church. As always, a good point of reflection about those facts.

All in all, a very good album, complete in every part. Now the main problem is the mark…well, I'd give to this album the same mark given to “Mater Of All Evil” because I love both of them in the same way but I think that "Mater Of all Evil" is more complete with the atmospheres and the well balanced violence. Anyway, a great piece of occult black thrash metal.