Spirit of the Entrance unto Death

Embracing the mystical rituals of early Hellenic black metal, Necromantic Worship is a secretive duo hailing from The Netherlands. The band’s debut release, a three track demo titled Spirit of the Entrance Unto Death, captures the band’s pulsing black metal tendencies and jarring, throwback songwriting. Released on Nuclear War Now! Productions, this fifteen minute, three track soiree into the realms of the occult is a satisfying listen, even if the band has plenty of room to grow.

Opening with a quite theatrical introduction, featuring a strange narration and subtle keys, Spirit of the Entrance Unto Death begins with quite an occult flair. Rumbling, pulsing bass lines are the most prominent piece, linking the slow burning Hellenic theatrics with frenetic black metal. Most of the album plays on this duality between occult theatrics, be it delicate organ patterns or avant-garde laden spoken word segments, and harsh, unyielding black metal. The guitars, aside from a bit of flailing lead work, are buried in the mix, focusing on that rhythmic, throbbing sound of Rotting Christ and Varathron via well placed power chords. Everything, expect for the bass, is shoved to back of the mix, allowing the bass lines to walk throughout the three tracks, linking everything together quite well.

Spirit of the Entrance Unto Death is a short but powerful introduction into this band’s mysterious world. Occult atmospherics via Hellenic theatrics and lowbrow, frenetic black metal merge to bring a pulsing, bass heavy demo. Despite this only being fifteen minutes long, Necromantic Worship shows a strong grasp of the Greek masters of old. Time will tell if the band can bring an atmosphere of this caliber to their upcoming full length. This is raw and dirty and has an extremely rough production, but part of the band’s charm lies in their ability to present such an authentic sound in such a short time.

Written for The Metal Observer.