NECROFILIA
“RHELLIGION”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Necrofilia are a groove/thrash/death metal band from San Marino formed in 1996, releasing a number of demos before their first full length studio album ‘Lost In Chaos’ emerged in 2003. ‘Crush Test’ was the bands second album, released in 2004, at which point the band went quiet, or went on hiatus, for a number of years, dogged with line up changes. Re-emerging with a more stable line up in 2016, the band released their third album ‘rHELLigion’ in 2019.

Emulating the old school thrash metal sound from the eighties, Necrofilia have released an album of bite, snarl and growl… A thundering onslaught of fast paced savagery that will violently bang heads hard, the album explodes into life with the electrifying pace of ‘Till Die’. Think Testament, Destruction and Sodom, and add extra fuel to their fiery nature, and there you get somewhere close to the sound of Necrofilia. The onslaught doesn’t slow down either, the album powering on with the high velocity melodic thrash metal rampage that goes by the name ‘Path’. The high pace, the blistering guitars and the rampant rhythms are a head bangers dream and will test a necks flexibility to the limit. A breathless opening double salvo, of an album that stretches fifty minutes in length with twelve songs on offer, continues apace with the bustling ‘Ballad Of Death’, the most catchy of the opening three songs. Necrofilia have adopted the gloriously catchy sound that the likes of Testament, Annihilator and Death Angel have, and added an extra few tonnes of heaviness. An absolute belter of an opening triple, sees the album move toward the heavy metal genre with the banging ‘Welcome To The Show’. Big riffing and punchy, ‘Welcome To The Show’ is like a thrash metal/heavy metal crossover, appealing to fans of both genres. Melodic thrash metal has never sounded so good…

…with ‘rHELLigion’ easily one of the best thrash metal albums I have heard this year. Yep, you heard that right, even to the extent of challenging Crimson Slaughter, SystemHouse33, Flotsam And Jetsam, Overkill and Death Angel for the best thrash metal album for 2019. The heaviness is increased to deafening levels with the pulsating ‘Dead Sun’, pummelling the senses into bloody oblivion, viciously crushing skulls and snapping bones. The breath taking pace and power of this album is phenomenal, the title song ‘rHELLigion’ picking up the pace. Fuelled by fire and brimstone, ‘rHELLigion’ (the song) is a fast, furious and fierce bludgeon of break neck speed. Throwing in touches of the brutal style of thrash metal that legends Slayer and Kreator are famous for, ‘rHELLigion’ (the song) easily stands shoulder to shoulder with anything these bands have released. Keeping the high velocity high, ‘Follow Down’ actually increases the speed, setting the ground alight in its wake, as the intense inferno just gets hotter and hotter…

…with ‘Old Man’ returning the more melodic side of Necrofilia to the fore. Addictive and infectious, ‘Old Man’ serves as a breather from the two previous scorchers… And when I say a breather, you ain’t actually got time to take a breath, with ‘Old Man’ a head banger of the highest order, culminating in a high velocity crescendo at a pace to head bang your head right off your shoulders. So, pick your head back up, shove it on top of your neck, and carry on head banging to ‘Against’, a more, but not quite mid tempo, somewhere between mid and high tempo romp. Necrofilia have shown with this album their ability to deliver high velocity thrash metal at high speed with immense amounts of heaviness. Broadening their musical boundaries, ‘Son Of Beer’ introduces the arrogant swagger of punk into the mix, sounding like a thrash metallized version of UK legends Motorhead, ‘Son Of Beer’ is a raucous foot stomping thump of a head banger that will surprise the bands legion of fans, yet please them at the same time. ‘Reflection’ sees, err hears, the band stride into thrash metal territory owned by American thrash metallers Megadeth. The heavy, aggressive, in your face style of the American legends is evident from start to finish, displaying the bands ability to visit all corners of the thrash metal genre. The final song on the album, is a cover version of one of the most well known and iconic songs in heavy metal history, and arguably the beginning of the black metal genre. In 1982, UK heavy metallers, and NWOBHM pioneers Venom, released their second album ‘Black Metal’, featuring the song ‘Black Metal’. Necrofilia add their intense thrash metal nuances to ‘Black Metal’, increasing the songs overall pace and heaviness, to deliver what is likely, one of the fastest versions of ‘Black Metal’.

Overall, a skull crushing and bone snapping pummelling of the most savage nature, Necrofilia have delivered a phenomenal album of thrash.

TRACKLIST

Till Die
Path
Ballad Of Death
Welcome To The Show
Dead Sun
rHELLigion
Follow Down
Old Man
Against
Son Of Beer
Reflection
Black Metal (Venom cover)

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