Beginning as I do in the beginning and starting as I must in the start, let me show you darkness through the echoes of a forgotten release and its era..
First things first; Necromass is not a random band. They had a major effect on a circle of black metal fans and bands in the mid '90s with their debut release Mysteria Mystica Zofiriana. Let us go back in time; in the early '90s when Norwegians started to spread the word of the second wave of black metal throughout Europe, there was a whole parallel universe of B.M. expressed through the prism of death metal's evolution, or as a ceaseless continuation of the first wave of black metal. Some would say that this motherless (country-wise) genre is a bit closer to the origins of elementary black metal because it clearly preserves the connection with its source, given that the 2nd wave of black metal was originally intertwined with Bathory. Particularly, this archetypal type of expression, which was never meant to fit within the narrow boundaries of any tag (one could say black/death metal, but that's too restrictive), was represented in the early '90s - to provide some resonant examples - by bands such as Absu, Ancient Rites, Impaled Nazarene, Necrophobic, Mystifier, Samael, the Greek black metal scene (Necromantia, Rotting Christ, Thou Art Lord, etc.), Beherit, Bal Sagoth, the Czech black metal scene (Root, Master's Hammer, etc.), and of course, Italy had its own contributions through Mortuary Drape and Necromass.
What Necromass managed to create with M.M.Z. (by accident or by purpose it still remains a question) was utter darkness and one of the most blasphemous soundscapes in the history of black metal. The ingredients they've used were the good old arts of aggressive metal and a ritualistic background of unholy orgies blessed in goatborn blood. Upon music, there's a great deal of aggressiveness and blast-beats as well as atmospheric passages with keyboards and acoustic guitars that almost reach the fields of melancholy in moments. The raw production leaves a lot of space for the Grand Inquisitor Commander and Ain Soph Aour to develop their multiple screams and curses. While drumming sounds pretty rough and fairly coherent, guitars come off a little low. Their technique is similar to raw and primitive death metal in parts and it's not clear if they're downtuned or not. Overall they're suitable to the final outcome. Keyboard parts offer clarity to the phallic symbolisms that M.M.Z. carries and of course acoustic guitars create a whole new level of dark atmosphere with their Mediterranean temperament. M.M.Z. is a release of rare aesthetics and I'm having a really hard time trying to place it among similar works I can recall. I'm not sure if Nazxul's Totem is a good example but it's close enough.
To be honest, I don't think M.M.Z. meets the expectations of many black metal fans
but it's definitely a classic and unique album with a rare vibe of vintage black metal. If you like the early works of the above mentioned bands, you might appreciate this one too.
Combine Mysteria Mystica Zofiriana with The Diabolic Serenades (Ancient Rites) and Eosforos (Thou Art Lord) then add some Totem (Nazxul) and have a nice trip to hell and possibly back.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=102qaWs5Bq0
