Necrophobic - Spawned by Evil
Review: This EP has four tracks of which three are covers and one is an original. The original is fast but simple, a standard power chord progression ripped off more at black metal speed with thrashing pulsing drums and some breakdowns, bridges and power variations in the riff to add some momentum to its impulse. Bassist Sidegard is singing and guitarist David Parland/Blackmoon is moving on leaving Martin Halfdahn in his place. "Spawned by Evil," the original, is both exciting and disappointing. The new vocals are good, rhythmic and screeching like black metal singing. Fast, black metal composition, death metal pattern shifting, and melodic speed appeal make the new music of Necrophobic tantalizing but at the same time its predictable composition leaves no real impulse to care.
The covers are Slayer "Die By the Sword," done faithfully and precisely; Venom's "Nightmare," which sounds like bad Motley Crue evil rock like that for which Venom are idolized; and "Enter the Eternal Fire," a Bathory original that is ludicrously simple sounding in the hands of such competent players. All covers are faithful yet recreated within the Necrophobic sound.
The future will see if this band can put more of the diligence that they showed on the last album into their patterning of their newer songs, demonstrating that the quasi-technical combinatoric approach to death/black metal will produce powerful music without depending on speed and simplicity for attention-getters.