Review by Carl on October 27, 2024.

This one was sold to me as being 'like Mortician'. Yeah, no, that's not what this is. Not every brutal death metal band operating with a drum machine is 'like Mortician', and certainly not Necroveg, a one-man business dealing in a way more slamming type of music.

I can say the same thing about Necroveg as what I said a while back about Gargling. It's like there are only two types of parts here, either slamming heaviness or else blastbeaten frenzy, alternated in a plethora of different orders. After a couple of spins, I do have to adjust this claim somewhat in the case of my man Nate here, the only member of Necroveg. Yes, the emphasis here is indeed very strongly on guttural slamming death metal with bursts of raging velocity, but throughout there are somewhat more guitar-oriented parts included in the punishing mixture, alleviating some of the suffocating density of the music. At times Nate utilizes a sort of tremolo-picked style to play over the chugging midtempo slams, adding a touch of variation to his style of relentless death. Keep in mind though, that what Necroveg does here is all about crushing power and belligerence, despite the added niceties here and there.

Looking at this album, it isn't a bad effort, despite lacking somewhat in the originality department, but there was something that got on my nerves. No, it's not the somewhat boxy-sounding programmed drums, and neither was it the production, which keeps it all pretty heavy and menacing. No, it was the swathes of electronics that combined the tracks with each other, even appearing in the songs themselves. Combined with Necroveg's pulsing bulldozer death metal, these parts aren't without charm, adding a kinda surprising element even, but between the songs they annoy me. The sound they have, it's as if a hand in a glove of sandpaper is massaging my nerve endings. Apart from that, I also can not shake the idea that these parts are simply there to pad out the runtime of this album, stretching proceedings out just to fill up the disc. And then it still is only 23 and some minutes long. Honestly, I would've preferred it had the electronics been more worked into the actual music, because the instances where Necroveg actually did this sound great. Also, instead of the intro's, I would not have minded some more original material, because I can dig what's being done here, death metal-wise.

I certainly appreciate the actual music here. We get a solid, albeit not so original mixture of heaviness and aggression, with a small smattering of unconventional elements sprinkled into the concoction, but it's the short runtime and the redundant electronic filler between a lot of the tracks that lessens the fun for me here. Despite this, I will reiterate that the music itself is worth the effort, and if you happen to be immersed in brutal slamming guttural death metal and you're not a cranky, overly critical old bastard like me, I'm sure you'll appreciate Necroveg even more than I do.

Rating: 7 out of 10