Review by Felix on February 15, 2021.

In terms of the here presented band, the German metal press of the mid-eighties did not state its opinion explicitly. This was not even necessary. Everybody could read between the lines a certain degree of contempt. Necronomicon were seen as the incompetent brothers of Destruction. This was fairly understandable, because it was right that Schmier and his friends had the better riffs (and the more clever promotion). Additionally, the basic musical orientation of Necronomicon was well comparable with that of Destruction and both bands originated from the same region of Germany. Anyway, Necronomicon were no clones of Destruction. They shared the same passion for thrash metal, but they did not copy the approach of albums such as "Infernal Overkill". Necronomicon tried to go its own ways, although some high-pitched screams of the lead vocalist were very close to that of Schmier.

The band did not lack enthusiasm. Almost 30 years after its publication, the self-titled debut still sounds vivid and temperamental. It goes without saying that the riffs are the key success factor. The good news is that most of them possess the necessary degree of sharpness and momentum. But the bad news is that convincing riffs alone do not form automatically good songs. The guitar work on Necronomicon too often fails to create a successful flow of the respective song. It is by no means guaranteed that the listener is protected against unpleasant surprises. Some songs start with strong riffs, but their single parts do not truly fit together. This alone is not the death sentence for the songs. Nevertheless, this problem occurs frequently. At this stage of their career, mature song-writing did unfortunately not belong to the core competencies of the band members. This may be the main reason why this album fell on deaf ears. Not to mention the integration of a few inappropriate elements such as the punk-like background vocals of 'Iron Charm'. They kill the underlying riff in a matter of seconds. Contrariwise, the relatively complex opener 'Dark Land' successfully avoids any serious mistakes and the result was absolutely worth listening to.

The solos are the playground for the guitarists to show their technical skills, but they do not add value to the songs. As a consequence, they are missing the point. More or less the same applies for the songs themselves. Necronomicon wanted to impress the listener with varied and diverse compositions, but the band members overexerted themselves. Instead of creating some fairly catchy tracks, the courageous dudes wanted to show the whole bandwidth of their musicianship. The result is acceptable, but less would have been more.

Rating: 5.8 out of 10