Review by Felix on March 10, 2020.

Lo and behold, one of the best tracks of Necrohell's new album from 2017 was already recorded in 2014. The closer 'My Night a Crafty Witch' features Nocturno Culto on vocals, but he does not make the difference. It is just a very good composition that shows the typical elements of Necrohell. Blizzard-like guitar leads create an ice-cold atmosphere, I feel a certain Transylvanian hunger and melodic elements are trampled into dust. Rumbling drums underline the merciless attack of the guitars whose mid-paced riffs cut deeply into the flesh. The sound quality of this piece is lower than that of the other tracks, but this doesn't matter. This song embodies fury, pressure and ferocity in a pretty phenomenal manner.

Generally speaking, the Greek duo did not modify its style and therefore its influences are still identifiable. With or without Nuctorno Culto, the guys with the pseudonyms Sorg and Ungod love to remind us of the icy Norwegian art of the mid-nineties. Grimness and bitterness go hand in hand and Necrohell are like a raging black beast that has nothing else in mind but to sink its teeth into the next victim. Don't be fooled by the sinister yet atmospheric artwork. Any form of atmospheric elements stands in the shadow of the relentless guitars, the mostly hyper fast drumming and the deep yet pretty natural voice. I like the uncompromising approach of the band, although it is a little bit problematic.

All songs have a duration between five and seven minutes, all have a comparable number of breaks and high velocity is an integral element of every piece. Furthermore, none of them has a conventional verse-chorus-verse pattern. From this follows that the single cuts have difficulties to develop a unique appearance. Perhaps the band should think about the arrangements of its tracks. It is not necessary to give them a completely new appearance, certainly not! Yet it could be helpful to vary the songwriting slightly. Nevertheless, I don't want to overemphasize this aspect. Deathwings opens the gates to hell in a really impressive manner. There are not many bands with such a cruel, devastating and anti-human way of proceeding.

Despite the more or less whooshing mix, the first eight tracks of the album do not suffer from a weak production. Coldness meets density and pressure flirts with bestiality. I do not say that this is the right production for those who want to identify each and every nuance, but honestly speaking, I am sure that detail-loving guys do not even think about buying this album. It doesn't matter whether one tests the title track, 'Horns Rises' or 'Shroud of a Horned Nightmare', all songs deliver a black metal massacre, not least because of the rough sound. The duo had no intention to molest the audience with keyboards, dreamful sequences or female vocals and therefore potential weaknesses of the atrocious mix do not come into effect. What remains is almost an hour of music for the very black-hearted community, actually neither better nor worse than its predecessor, but I give two additional percentage points due to the egregious closer. Let's hope that this track works as an inspiration for Darkthrone's next full-length. Their "Arctic Thunder" was not much louder than a fart of Fenriz.

Rating: 7.8 out of 10