NECRONOMICON
“The Final Chapter”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Necronomicon are a thrash metal band from Germany formed in 1984 by singer/guitarist Volker ‘Freddy’ Fredrich. The band released it’s self titled debut album in 1986, releasing three more albums – ‘Apocalyptic Nightmare’ (1987), ‘Escalation’ (1988), and ‘Screams’ (1994) – before a ten year hiatus due to difficulties with record labels/management companies. Returning to the music scene in 2004, Necronomicon released five more albums – ‘Construction Of Evil’ (2004), ‘Revenge Of The Beast’ (2007), ‘Invictus’ (2012), ‘Pathfinder… Between Heaven And Hell’ (2015), and ‘Unleashed Bastards’ (2018). Necronomicon are highly regarded as one of the most exciting thrash metal bands to have emerged from Germany, and in 2021, an incredible thirty five years after the release of their debut album, the band released ‘The Final Chapter’, their tenth studio offering.

If you like your thrash metal fuelled by aggression, devastatingly heavy, and played at a ferocious pace, then you’ve come to the right place. ‘The Final Chapter’ is a belter of an album, with twelve songs rammed into its forty five minutes running time. ‘I Am The Violence’ kicks the album off in typical Necronomicon style – fast, furious, and ferocious! The bands previous album ‘Unleashed Bastards’ was a fiery ride of aggressive thrash – this time around, the band are an explosive blend of aggression and attitude. Non more so than the title song ‘The Final Chapter’, rocketing along at high velocity, eclipsing anything Kreator, Slayer, or any of the legends of thrash have done. The savage beauty of ‘The Final Chapter’ (the song) is a glorious listen, and will make the ears of the weak bleed profusely. But for the strong among us – like me – “come on Necronomicon, is that all you’ve got?”. The bands answer is a defiant “no”, as ‘Wall Of Pain’ accelerates into view with a deafening roar. The damage ‘Wall Of Pain’ inflicts is severe, with walls crumbling and buildings collapsing from the formidable weight of force. ‘Purgatory’, and no it’s not an Iron Maiden cover, brings forth the classic sound of German thrash – brutal, blunt, and bludgeoning. And after just four songs, Necronomicon have unleashed a bone breaking, skull crushing cascade of thrash aimed at claiming the title of Album Of The Year.

With its opening riff sharing a stunning similarity to Iron Maiden’s ‘Flash Of The Blade’ (from their 1984 album ‘Powerslave’), ‘Burning The Fury’ proceeds to bish, bash, bosh the senses with vicious intent. So vicious in fact, the police may be called to arrest the band for GBH! The aggressiveness with which Necronomicon began this album, has not waned one bit, the fury as fierce as the fiercest thing you can imagine – and then some! With its majestic “heavy metal” style intro, ‘Spilling Blood’ is the nearest ‘The Final Chapter’ gets to stepping outside the thrash metal genre. The buzzing guitars and driving rhythm so synonymous with traditional heavy metal takes front and centre, but the aggressive vocals of founding member Freddy, is the reminder that this is, without question, a thrash metal album – a thrash metal album to violently blow cobwebs away! ‘Selling Nightmares’ thunders on like a military regiment marching into war, full of menace and terrifying intent. And on top of the albums overall aggression and savage brutality, the infectious level that every song oozes is right off the fucking scale. A highly addictive listen, this is one of those “can’t stop listening to” albums. With the band roaring like a massive fire on bonfire night, ‘World On Fire’ could easily set the world on fire. The savage barrage is crushing, bruising, and painful… Hang on, painful! No it’s not – it’s highly pleasurable, and not in some weird BDSM way either. ‘World On Fire’ is a firecracker of a tune.

And as the album enters its final third, intensity and energy remains extremely high, ‘The Devil’s Tears’ striding forth with intent and purpose. The all out pace ‘The Final Chapter’ (album) began with has not slowed one bit – the band firing on all cylinders, delivering a superb, and weighty thrash metal offering. Head bangers of the world are gonna be in a state of euphoria with this album, a full throttle avalanche of awesome thrash. ‘The Unnamed’ threatens to smash down the border of the heavy metal genre, but remains solidly where it should be – firmly and squarely in the thrash metal genre. With its chant style chorus, ‘The Unnamed’ should go down a storm in the live arena. One of the fastest songs on offer, ‘Me Against You’, manages to increase the intensity, energy, and brutality levels higher than anything that has gone before. Flying along at high velocity, heads just might be banged off their shoulders, as fans try to keep up with the extreme pace. And in what seems like no time at all, we arrive at the final song – and for the first time on the album, a mellow guitar intro appears, and breathes life into ‘The Stormreaper’ – a crushing cascade of infectious brutality. What a song, what an album, what a band! If you like your thrash heavier than Kreator and more brutal than Slayer – then you’re gonna love ‘The Final Chapter’. So go grab a copy, you won’t be disappointed.

Overall, a breath taking storm of all out thrash, delivering a savage barrage of bone snapping, skull crushing, neck breaking thrash metal.

TRACKLIST

I Am The Violence
The Final Chapter
Wall Of Pain
Purgatory
Burning The Fury
Spilling Blood
Selling Nightmares
World On Fire
The Devil’s Tears
The Unnamed
Me Against You
The Stormreaper

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