Review: “Mirror Black” by Necrophobic

A forerunner single for the ninth Necrophobic studio album “Dawn of the Damned” which is slated for a 9th October 2020 release via Century Media with pre-orders available here, this two track single is one designed to whet your appetite for the Swedish Blackened Death Metallers return. Recorded and mixed by Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed, Firespawn) the album once again coming with artwork by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin. It’s been two years since “Mark of the Necrogram” and bassist Alex Friberg has exited stage left to be replaced by Allan Lundholm, otherwise leaving the line-up from 2016 intact, drummer Joakim Sterner being the sole founder member remaining with vocalist Anders Strokirk returning in 2014 and guitarist duo Sebastian Ramstedt and Johan Bergebäck rejoining two years later. That should mean consistency between the two albums in terms of writing for the first time in a while. For those not familiar with Necrophobic, they were formed by Sterner and the now dearly departed guitarist David Parland in 1989, taking their name from the song on the seminal Slayer album “Reign In Blood“.

So what we get here is a chance to check out what the new album might sound like along side a reminder of the bands former glories with a live rendition of the title track from the bands 1997 album “Darkside” with the bands current line up. “Mirror Black” comes with a music video directed by Magnus Göthlund and as you might expect sees the band dressed in Black Metal clothing and corpse paint in a wooden church like building. The track itself is loaded with relentless blast beats and Black Metal riffs while offering a classical Thrash whammy bar drop moment that is a face melter. High tempo and adrenaline fueled, the band show no signs of leaving the demonic path they have chosen and a couple of neat tapping sections add a flash of technicality to the lead riffs. If this is what the album is going to sound like then it will be a solid addition to their collection. “Darkside” as you would expect is one of the bands classic cuts and played to perfection. The audio quality is pretty decent with only the drum sound suffering in the mix, sounding a bit muddy [8/10]

Track listing

1. Mirror Black
2. Darkside (Live 2020)

“Mirror Black” by Necrophobic is out now via Century Media