Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence - guest review
Necrophobic - The Nocturnal Silence - guest review
Tracklist
01. Awakening...02. Before The Dawn
03. Unholy Prophecies
04. The Nocturnal Silence
05. Inborn Evil
06. Shadows Of The Moon [2022 reissue bonus]
07. The Ancients Gate
08. Sacrificial Rites
09. Father Of Creation [feat. Micke Jansson]
10. Where Sinners Burn [feat. Rickard Daemon]
Guest review by
F3ynman February 22, 2022
So begins the 1993 Swedish underground classic The Nocturnal Silence. The fittingly titled song "Awakening..." heralds not only the beginning of Necrophobic's epic debut, but generates an entirely new genre of music: melodic, blackened death metal!
Fellow Swedish metal masters Dissection are often credited with expertly fusing black and death metal in their seminal The Somberlain, which was also released in 1993. However, the beginnings of this genre date back to 1989, when Necrophobic released their first demos Realm of Terror ('89), Slow Asphyxiation ('90), and Unholy Prophecies ('91). This era was the golden age of old school death metal, seeing landmark releases from bands such as Morbid Angel, Death, and Entombed. While their contemporaries reveled in lyrical themes of gore, brutally heavy riffs, and growling vocals, Necrophobic turned to the growing black metal scene for inspiration. They thereby spearheaded a new movement in metal, combining black metal's chilling Scandinavian atmosphere and Satanic lyrics with the heavy, catchy guitar-riff-centered death metal style.
The result? Simply the founding masterpiece of melodic, blackened death metal that still amazes to this day! This majestic wonder can be attributed to two primary stars: David Parland and Anders Strokirk. Parland, who plays here both lead and rhythm guitar, is the founding member of Necrophobic and contributes the masterfully crafted foundation of this album. Writing and composing almost all of the blasphemous lyrics and guitar riffs, Parland shapes The Nocturnal Silence into a musical magnum opus of diabolical metal.
But the album wouldn't be the same without our second star: the vocalist Anders Strokirk. Up until this release, the ever-changing line-up of bassists performed the vocals in the demos, producing the popular old school death metal growls. But, with the arrival of Strokirk, the vocals took a different turn, adopting rather the sickened, strained style of black metal acts. These vocals fit perfectly to the haunting riffs and devilish lyrics, making Strokirk sound like a starved demon awakened from its slumber.
Together, along with the restless drummer and the talented bassist, they create an unforgettable experience of alternating menacing riffs, foreboding melodies, and elegant solos, recounting wicked tales of ancient demons and nighttime rituals.
The Nocturnal Silence is 45 minutes of non-stop, expertly designed, ultra-fast musicianship - a monument to metal! Every song is delivered with utter perfection, whether it's the unrelenting, thrashy energy of "Sacrificial Rites", the melodious guitar solo of the title track, the neck-snapping riffs of "Before The Dawn", the foreboding atmosphere of "Where Sinners Burn", the diverse assortment of guitar-work in "Inborn Evil", or the maliciously sung lyrics of "Father Of Creation". The two songs that perhaps best encapsulate all of these attributes are "Unholy Prophecies" and "The Ancients Gate", with their fair share of ruthless riffs and melodic guitar solos.
This album offers countless amazing riffs for the adrenaline-craving metalhead. Each and every one of them is absolutely magical, addicting, beautiful, brutal... I find myself running out of adjectives to properly describe this timeless artwork. Simply put, the guitar-work on this album makes my heart soar, my eyes pop, and my mouth gape upon every new listen as the divine aural ambrosia washes over me! An awe-inspiring adventure that I can never get enough of, deserving nothing less than a perfect score!
Written by F3ynman | February 22, 2022
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments:
12
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Posts: 6683
Once again another great review, I thoroughly enjoy reading them. This album is well and truly a masterpiece, and deserves a review like this, I look forward to your next one 
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Posts: 3439 Written by AndyMetalFreak on 22.02.2022 at 18:51 Thank you so much! I was really looking forward to making a review for this album - one of the all-time best in my opinion. Now I'll have to see which one I'll do next. I have a list of a couple of albums that don't have reviews yet. The praise keeps me motivated to do more! 
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 Posts: 64506 |
Posts: 64506
Another blast from frost, ice and deep snowdul norden darkness... In those days winter was colder, snow was deeper, night was darker, Metal was blacker and heavyer... It was pure steel... Good album.
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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Posts: 8278
You're on fire and you certainly did justice to this masterpiece of its style. Necrophobic have been crazy consistent and have released many great albums, but they never managed to top this.
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Posts: 1068
Great review for a truly great album. A 10 outta 10 if ever there was one.
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Posts: 109  |
Posts: 109
Your reviews are really good man. The careful selection of words makes for a lively image and it sort of pulls me in; reminding me of all these notes from this album as if I were hearing them right now. And that enables a lovely reading experience. The album is great. For some reason when I first found it, it seemed both compelling and scary. I think back then I was not very accustomed to the vile-sounding harmonies which Necrophobic, Dissection or Unanimated have produced, among others. I should probably revisit this some evening. You know me, F3ynman, as quite a Hrimthursum fan; if I can handle that, I can handle this too.
---- So imminently visible - this cloaked innocent guilt Sentenced to a lifetime, a second of structured chaos Trampled by the ferocious, raging crowds of solitude I'm the soil beneath me soaking up the sustenance of my own death. [Meshuggah]
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Posts: 3439 Written by metalriff on 24.02.2022 at 12:21 Thanks! Yeah, hopefully people will finally bring it to 200 votes
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Posts: 642  |
Posts: 642
Holy crap, how does this not have 200 votes, I thought Necrophobic was fairly well known in these parts
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Posts: 3439 Written by sgtrobo on 10.03.2022 at 05:54 Man, just 11 more votes to go... 
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Posts: 642
I just can't fathom how, on a site like Metalstorm, which seems to LOVE melodeath and meloblack, that one of the godfathers of the subgenre is so..."un-owned", if that makes sense...
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