Necrosanct "Desolate" CD

Abhorrent Productions version!!!

Necrosanct were a British death/grind band that was active in the first half of the 90's and yet it was only four years ago that I first took notice of their name. It was in a list of second hand CDs that I saw a copy of their "Incarnate" album and I got intrigued by the cover art. I also noticed the album was released in 1992 (the late 80's and early 90's were the golden age of death metal in my opinion) and that their record label was Black Mark, the good people who also brought you Bathory, Seance and the second album by France's Agressor to name but a few. A quick glance at their entry on Metal Archives (you probably heard of them, right?) got me even more riled up: the band's picture showed some members wearing Terrorizer and Blasphemy shirts and I figured that their music probably wasn't for the faint of heart. The review of the album further sealed the deal for me. Money changed hands, the album arrived a little later and I was hooked! Grinding death metal mayhem, just the way I love it. Soon I purchased the rest of their catalogue, that further consisted of a rather disappointing debut album and their third and final full length, the one I'm reviewing here for you, "Desolate".
"Desolate" is a typical third album, with the band experimenting somewhat with their formula. The members incorporated some more diverse influences than the usual death metal and grindcore sounds from before and it makes for a more diverse listening experience. I can imagine, it also marks the point where the band's members' musical tastes maybe started to drift away from each other, perhaps the reason why this is their final effort. Who'll say?
The bulk of the songs on "Desolate" follow the same path as on "Incarnate", grinding death metal with some needed variation in between. It made me think of "In Battle There Is No Law" era Bolt Thrower but at much higher velocity, with the fastest parts on the album also reminding me of Blasphemy quite a lot, while the guitar leads bring to mind good ole Morbid Angel as well as Massacre's "From Beyond". The vocals are mostly in the vein of former Pestilence/Asphyx throat shredder Martin Van Drunen but early Morbid Angel are yet again a point of reference. To this mix you can also add touches of early Napalm Death and other Earache bands of days passed and all of this together makes for quite the explosive cocktail of what was on offer in extreme metal around the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's.
As I mentioned earlier on in this review, the band incorporated some other influences on this album, experimenting with their style a bit. There are sporadic touches of keyboard sounds here and there and the band has some slower passages built in to some of the tracks, for example in the songs "Plagued Mind" and "Epitaph". The slower parts incorporated in the music bring to mind the earliest sounds of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, as well as the more mid tempo Bolt Thrower songs. It's got to be said that these parts work very well amidst the ongoing whirlwind of death/grind on offer here.
Another experiment on the album is the title track at the end of the album. Here Necrosanct is clearly referencing the industrial metal from bands such as Godflesh and Scorn's "Vae Solis". Not as good as the aforementioned artists but still a good try nonetheless, it makes me wonder sometimes what a fourth album by Necrosanct would've sounded like.
In conclusion I'd put it like this: if a combination of Pestilence (circa 1988), Blasphemy and Morbid Angel's "Altars of Madness" (with some occasional nods to Nocturnus and Godflesh) floats your boat, then dig in! You won't be sorry you did.

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