NecroThievery

Well now, I certainly have been uncovering more and more hidden gems as of late. Here's yet another early death metal marvel; an abstract, technical and mind-warpingly impressive 1994 EP from this band, who I actually just recently discovered. Now, seeing as Skeleton of God's equally-overlooked EP Urine Garden is in my elite pantheon of death metal classics, the other original death metal band from my home state of Colorado who had close ties with the SoG guys, would naturally spark my interest. And these four songs do resemble the four classic tracks on the aforementioned SoG EP to a degree, which would inevitably be fine with me! And whilst I'm making comparisons to other bands, I suppose that you could think of this as Urine Garden, Atrocity's Todessehnsucht and Embrionic Death's Stream of Solidarity all rolled up into one big, fat vortex of sonic headfuck deluxe. Yeah, it sounds awesome right? Well it is.

...however, I'm not foreshadowing that Undertaker are an unoriginal band. This release seems to blend the best elements of early American and early European death metal into a very familiar, but wholly compelling and singular sound. Sometimes, certain great bands stride a perfect medium between originality and creativity, without ostensibly displaying excessive elements of either attribute, and Undertaker are one of those bands to me. In a way, it's about knowing their limits, but not letting such a realization hamper or hinder the output of the music's unusual, cerebral nature rooted in such creative riffing, that's still yet to be emulated today. Despite the consistent speed, the riffing is jittering and off-kilter with a sense of wavering, lumbering brutality, saturated with bends, trills, slides and pinch harmonics. The the result comes off in a way that nearly combines Suffocation's abstract intensity on Breeding the Spawn with the brooding neoclassical feel of Atrocity's Todessehnsucht. Most of the riffs are striking, single-note, low-string affairs, often being rounded off with dissonantly-melodious pinch harmonics and slides, creating an unmistakably experimental and challenging sound with a kind of undulating, off-kilter sense of groove that seeps with a depth that's nearly semiotic. The album's pace orbits in and out between blistering speed as well as chunky mid-paced goodness that remains at one knot above slam, and one knot below chug. Yet each notes progression leads to spiraling concoctions of absolutely insane and infectious brutality. This is a type of album that will almost certainly remind the metal listener of why we love guitars so goddamn much.

Further intriguing is that the songwriting shows that these guys were one of the first to utilize a linear style of writing, with minimal repetition - only occasionally switching back to a previous riff or two to quickly accentuate each free-flowing bar, here and there. Dave Rodgers' drumming matches with a vigor and ferocity that often outshines his admirable technical proficiency. It's one those, you know, "old-school" drum performances, that somehow manages to be intense and challenging without being overtly flashy or overridden. Speed with strong strength and percussive subtlety. Hell, and on a close listen, even the bass also manages to clandestinely creep out during certain lumbering riffs here and there and show its relative eccentricity. And while it's not quite overt enough to merit another exclusively-enjoyable dimension to the music, it's refreshing, even in 2010, to hear an extreme metal release in which the bass seems like it radiates with the same energy as the guitars, despite being buried.

All in all, here's a perfect unknown treat for the seasoned and adventurous extreme metal fan. This album could very well deserve a spot in the legion of early experimental death metal classics. It's quite disappointing to see hardly any recognition of Necro Thievery, even sixteen years after its release. Especially when you take into account that these guys were pushing brutality and speed forward with laudable dynamics, at a time before most bands began abusing heaviness and extremity, becoming stagnant, and in some cases, garnering undeserved fame for reprehensible, perhaps even novelty reasons. Point is this: any fan of early, unusual, and ultimately intriguing death metal, should make a proper listen of this a top priority. If that isn't your type of death metal, here's four songs that I'm sure would change that.