What was in my car

NECROMIS--Burnscar (2004)

Necromis is a Minneapolis-based death metal band that has been on and off the scene over the past 13 years... but they are back with a nifty CD to prove that they will be sticking around for a while. (Check out the link to the right for their website/ordering info)

I enjoy death metal, but the scene is plagued with corny lyrics, monotonous growling, boring all-sounds-the-same songwriting, and a whole bunch of Deicide wanna-be's that can't form an original thought or song. Therefore, I love the best of the genre--but 98% of it bores me to death.

Necromis avoids this by changing stuff up... a LOT. They catch a groove, they grind, they ride a bottom-heavy "chunk-ka-kunk" riff only to catch you off guard with a clean, melodic hook. It's as if Necromis hand-picked the absolute best attributes of the entire genre and combined them all into a melting-pot of an album. You can hear hints (but never rip-offs) of Morbid Angel, Opeth, Deicide, Carcass, with just a tad of Slayer just to keep true to the old-school.

There are no throw-aways (there better not be with only 6 songs!) on the album as each song stands out as its own entity. Burnscar offers an aggressive title track, a slow groove of "Filth Of This World," an epic 7+ minute "Unearthed," while "Stand and Die," "Phantom," and "Look At You" stand on their own as well-written and interesting.

Lyrically--well, I never have paid attention to a single lyric out of this genre (probably for my own good)--but Greg Chilton's vocals are tough and aggressive without ever resorting to the cheesy coughing grunts that seems to be the cliche lately. There are welcomed "harmonized" high/low screams here and there to emphasize a phrase while a soft-spoken whisper is sometimes heard to switch it up a bit.

Musically, the skill is top-notch--epecially for a bunch of local boys. The twin guitars of Jason Notebaart and Dan Lerach complement each other nicely. Right when a section gets a bit bottom-heavy, they come up for air with a quick harmonized lead and dive back down. Lerach's few solos are melodic, articulate ideas that never default to the whammy-bar mess that is the death-metal standard. It is nice that Necromis offers the guitar-worshiping listener a few solos, but never enough to become a boring guitar-god showcase. Aaron Davis' bass rides the bottom background, but often rises to the forefront right when you need him to complete a phrase. Tony Olson's drums provide anything the song needs: rapid double-bass, grinding snare, plodding grooves, and even a quick solo found in the title track. Olson plays with precision and skill, but adds originality and creativity to set himself apart from his peers... which could be said for Necromis as a whole.

Rating: ******* outta 8