Review by Alex on January 22, 2020.

Another reason to get yourself some huge fucking speakers and powerful amps, Necrobode assault the scene again, this time with their full-length Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode (Under the Necrobode Spell). Get ready for black/death metal that'll tear the skin from your face, if their 2018 demo was not enough to fulfill your desecrated appetite then chew on this barbed wire bat. Their demo was already an impressive feat considering they gave us original tracks that could have easily passed as a full length, I'm surprised it was never released on vinyl. But to re-enter the dungeon and work up a more violent yet musically superior incantation speaks of the dedication members involved with this Portuguese affiliation have. I usually don't like attending concerts/gigs but I would not mind seeing a live performance of this material by Necrobode.

Unlike the populace of black/death metal Necrobode don't rely on blistering fast blast beats and carnivorous vocals, rather their strength lies within an addicting groove they spit out via some mean fucking riffs and catchy drumming. The vocalist has a commanding tone to his growl, it's not entirely of death nor black metal, its closer to sounding as through a cyborg is growling through a clogged pipe or something of the sort. Its distinctive in comparison to the traditional bark/snarl/growl, you'd easily identify them when heard, and with added reverberating effect, that inhuman factor is amplified. This combined with their trademark method of playing gives them an edge over other bands in this style of black/death metal. A much needed and valuable facet to have considering how populated the scene has become following 89, some bands good, most bands shit.

As stated the music itself has grown to towering heights above their 2018 demo, the primary formula is the same as before and some may even argue that some songs are far too identical to each other. While that may be true to some extent, be minded scrutinizing the riffs, the main discernible characteristic giving each entry its own identity. I think Necrobode quickly realized what it was that garnered them such massive support and decided to keep that critical element apart of their music. But simultaneously, made certain not to saturate their songs with one consistent tempo, instead taking some steps away from their tried n' true methodology by including diverse but memorable patterns through the use of catchy drum fills as heard on the addicting 'Penetração Diabólica'. 'Tumba Universal' and 'Santo Santuário Do Ódio'. They carry similar pacing but feature different instrumental keys as can also be heard on 'Satanás Governa' and 'Culto Da Intolerância', similar tempo, different riffs.

The tunes on here are all great, the licks have much to do with that. You won't find one lazy combination of strings, offensive as a swarm of locust, the string work on here stings mercilessly. Meanwhile, governed by a bassy production, the songs resonate in your consciousness highly favoring repeated listens. My only gripe with Necrobode's debut demo was that it ended with 5 minutes or so of a sample that really did nothing beneficial to the album, instead coming across as wasted time. At this juncture, Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode concludes in similar manner but with less time so as to not cloud the overall pleasure of the record. A timely and impressive follow-up none-the-less, Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode is the awakening of a new beast in the underground.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by Alex on January 22, 2020.

Another reason to get yourself some huge fucking speakers and powerful amps, Necrobode assault the scene again, this time with their full-length Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode (Under the Necrobode Spell). Get ready for black/death metal that'll tear the skin from your face, if their 2018 demo was not enough to fulfill your desecrated appetite then chew on this barbed wire bat. Their demo was already an impressive feat considering they gave us original tracks that could have easily passed as a full length, I'm surprised it was never released on vinyl. But to re-enter the dungeon and work up a more violent yet musically superior incantation speaks of the dedication members involved with this Portuguese affiliation have. I usually don't like attending concerts/gigs but I would not mind seeing a live performance of this material by Necrobode.

Unlike the populace of black/death metal Necrobode don't rely on blistering fast blast beats and carnivorous vocals, rather their strength lies within an addicting groove they spit out via some mean fucking riffs and catchy drumming. The vocalist has a commanding tone to his growl, it's not entirely of death nor black metal, its closer to sounding as through a cyborg is growling through a clogged pipe or something of the sort. Its distinctive in comparison to the traditional bark/snarl/growl, you'd easily identify them when heard, and with added reverberating effect, that inhuman factor is amplified. This combined with their trademark method of playing gives them an edge over other bands in this style of black/death metal. A much needed and valuable facet to have considering how populated the scene has become following 89, some bands good, most bands shit.

As stated the music itself has grown to towering heights above their 2018 demo, the primary formula is the same as before and some may even argue that some songs are far too identical to each other. While that may be true to some extent, be minded scrutinizing the riffs, the main discernible characteristic giving each entry its own identity. I think Necrobode quickly realized what it was that garnered them such massive support and decided to keep that critical element apart of their music. But simultaneously, made certain not to saturate their songs with one consistent tempo, instead taking some steps away from their tried n' true methodology by including diverse but memorable patterns through the use of catchy drum fills as heard on the addicting 'Penetração Diabólica'. 'Tumba Universal' and 'Santo Santuário Do Ódio'. They carry similar pacing but feature different instrumental keys as can also be heard on 'Satanás Governa' and 'Culto Da Intolerância', similar tempo, different riffs.

The tunes on here are all great, the licks have much to do with that. You won't find one lazy combination of strings, offensive as a swarm of locust, the string work on here stings mercilessly. Meanwhile, governed by a bassy production, the songs resonate in your consciousness highly favoring repeated listens. My only gripe with Necrobode's debut demo was that it ended with 5 minutes or so of a sample that really did nothing beneficial to the album, instead coming across as wasted time. At this juncture, Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode concludes in similar manner but with less time so as to not cloud the overall pleasure of the record. A timely and impressive follow-up none-the-less, Sob O Feitiço Do Necrobode is the awakening of a new beast in the underground.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by Alex on February 24, 2020.

Such would come as a thing of sorrow that a bond so ideal be interrupted and put at an inactive halt; be the way a unit of this magnitude bury the work they contrived. Forever a lamenting moment to those who have gazed with Ævangelist into the void of fragmenting thoughts and reflections dismal. But the flame somehow lives through the windy tide of events threatening to close forever this wormhole of miseries delightful. Now relocated to Finland, despite the dispute between two beings taking separate paths through being at loggerheads, the journey to depths and worlds unspoken, continues as the eyelids shut with the flickering burial of luminescence, "Nightmarecatcher" follows "Dream an Evil Dream II", entrancingly engineered by Matron Thorn with the services of Stéphane Gerbaud on vocals. What dimensions' doors were these frequencies able to pry apart in restless suspense of what things would come dancing with steady pace from a freak of realms. Let the unorthodoxy taint and fetch your soul to an atomic blackness bewitched and bellicose. The forced entry of a phantasmic prism in which a being starved of earthly pleasures is unbelievably a slave within its own world as only the guest can instigate the darkened erotic advent.

Split in 3, are images unrecognizable to traditionalism or any form of orthodoxy. Yet still true to the philosophical prospect of darkness within this form of expression, the segmented scatter comes together in forming a spectral piece both hideous and glamorous. Like Reverorum Ib Malacht or Dodfodd and Havohej minus the kick of fury collaboratively invoked but one gasp of the source of dreams then confiscated such to use as an aphrodisiac during incantations, Ævangelist's "Nightmarecatcher" ceases from this force a particle of its silhouette to be used as the fuel behind the dreamy disturbia. A tongue indignant to an act such as this is utilized to admit the follower to the celestial breach. In devout obscurity and opposition to norm, the push towards the ultimatum intensifies but not as you would assume or expect, it is not the thumping snare that mans the operation, rather the ambiance constantly expanding and contracting with an urgency never diminishing. Feel the palpating rhythms immediate the trance introduced from 'I: The Origin and End of All: Pain of the Fallen' then marinates in groove-like bliss, onward to the frightening 'II: Ceremony of Decomposition of Bodies'. Then to sustain and redistribute the essence, the very concentrate of Ævangelist on the final vision 'III: In the Vomb of the Chaos, Source of Life Energy' sees the pillars of the band's new era strengthen its complex arithmetic in atmosphere and intensity, all the while building in preparation for the next step.

Once woven together, to take apart becomes an intricate if not, tedious and frustrating act of dissection. For in this realm far from ordinary and nearing the outskirts of madness and corruption, is situated a technical oeuvre readable yes, but comprehensible no, yet it obstructs not the intimacy of the irreligious trance. A course in black/death metal carpentry in which each brick, each compound and sheath have no difference as far as importance goes is cemented as one to achieve a structure of dominance and sustainability. In unison and strategic guidance a congregation of pulses and sonic vibrations sit with discipline under the thumbprint of an aura unmistakably a mastered character of Ævangelist unsurprisingly continued on "Nightmarecatcher". But also the push towards development has been a strength of theirs that has survived the battle thus making it through this transitioning period in the band's era. Still a callous collusion for the extremes perpetrated by zealots of the craft at this stage; however, be not mistaken for a soul searching session, but a scar upon the surface of one's own sanity and consciousness. This fraternity of Thorn and Gerbaud has brought compelling results and has reassured the masses that Ævangelist's music is still very healthy in doing what the entity has been known to do best. The artifacts of old untouched and unblemished it seems though the material here may have taken a step down in speed to magnify the effect of the spell, and without sacrificing the integrity of the effort Ævangelist is as it were above, it is below.

Rating: 9 out of 10