Re-edition of the first Necrocachot release "Catacombes" is now available as a beautiful pro tape, strictly limited to 75 copies. I am sharing here the new artwork, I hope this will incitate you to discover, or re-discover, this piece of dungeon synth (FFO B.rz.m, Mortiis, Sopor Aeternus, etc).
All music and artwork by Corbac le noir. Nekrart Productions, import from Quebec. Limited to 75 copies only.
Influences as much as Old-School Dungeon Synth (Mortiis, Depressive Silence) as by neo-classical Darkwave (Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows, Rosa Crvx), Catacombes proposes a wandering in a dark “medieval-fantastic” universe, with a hint of death and black magic, recreating the unique ambiance of the Clark Ashton Smith’s writings.
The essence of this album distils a frightening atmosphere where the macabre and the grotesque cohabit and where the anguish and the epic breath intertangle.
A relatively new project, stylistically speaking, Necrocachot was formed in 2018 by a French multi-instrumentalist that goes by Corbac. While the band's full length album, Malfet, as well as their tracks from the 2019 split with Dwalin offer a mixture of old school dungeon synth and ambient-tinged black metal (not very dissimilar from several Les Légions Noires projects that have obviously served as inspiration), their debut demo, the aptly-titled Demo 1: Catacombes focuses solely on dungeon synth and ambient.
Clearly, Necrocachot understands that for dungeon synth to properly work the music must be both harrowing and fantastical. Demo 1: Catacombes bristles with dark atmospherics, with dragging keyboard notes and somber, dungeonous inflection, yet earthy woodwinds and serene harpsichord movements offer those needed breaths of fresh air with a rather pompous, epic tangent. The sound is rather vibrant and airy, given how a lot of the genre resorts to heavy tape distortion and washes of static, yet the music retains the dangerous melancholy fans expect. Dungeon synth, when performed correctly, is very much mood music and Necrocachot excels at creating a dark, dismal atmosphere. Yet despite crawling through the dark dungeon in desolation, the bursts of epic instrumentals filter past the forgotten cracks and crevices like shining shafts of light in the darkness.
While some dungeon synth is very nondescript and by the numbers, Necrocachot's sound is anything but that. The demo might only be thirty-two minutes long, but it plays through like a journey through dark, goblin-infested tunnels or battling your way out of a mob-ridden dungeon. It's very melancholy and somber, but at the same time it manages to emote triumph and victory. Honestly, this is top tier dungeon synth and should please any fan of era one Mortiis or Örnatorpet and the like.
Sample:
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