UMUR
"The Nocturnal Silence" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish blackened death metal act Necrophobic. The album was released through Black Mark Productions in August 1993. Along with artists like Unanimated, Marduk and Dissection, Necrophobic were one of the seminal Swedish acts who put a blackened edge to their original old school death metal sound. This was far from common practice in those days, when most Swedish acts went for a low-tuned brutal sound. "The Nocturnal Silence" was recorded at Sunlight Studios in Stockholm, Sweden and produced by Necrophobic and Tomas Skogsberg.
The music on this album is still predominantly old school Swedish death metal with blasphemous lyrics and imagery. The vocals are a bit higher pitched and aggressive sounding than the more typical guttural growling type vocals from those days, but calling the music black metal (which later releases by Necrophobic are typically labelled) at this point wouldn´t be a valid description. Blackened death metal is for the most part even a stretch. Coming back to the vocals they are delightfully sneering and aggressive. Spitting out hatred against christianity. You can feel the burning passion behind the hateful delivery. Wether or not you agree with the lyrical content, the convincing delivery of those lyrics are in a league of it´s own. The riffing is low-tuned and aggressive (featuring the distinct Sunlight Studios guitar sound), but there are room for more melodic sections too, which is great for the variation of the album. While the album certainly is both brutal and aggressive, there are hooklines a plenty. There are vocal lines that you can actually sing (growl) along to and memorable melodic guitar themes that provide the music with a dark majestic touch.
"The Nocturnal Silence" is one of those old school Swedish death metal releases that just blow me away. The sound production is powerful and raw, the musicianship strong and the songwriting intriguing yet kept relatively simple and direct. If you´re looking for a convincing old school Swedish death metal album, look no further. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.