UMUR
"Womb of Lilithu" is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish melodic black metal/blackened death metal act Necrophobic. The album was released through Season of Mist in October 2013. It´s the follow up to "Death to All" from 2009. "Womb of Lilithu" is dedicated to the memory of founding member and guitarist David Parland who died in March 2013. There have been two lineup changes since "Death to All (2009)" as guitarists Sebastian Ramstedt and Johan Bergebäck have left Necrophobic. Fredrik Folkare is new on lead guitars while lead vocalist Tobias Sidegård has picked up the rythm guitar on this album.
The music on "Womb of Lilithu" pretty much continues the melodic black metal/blackened death metal style of "Death to All (2009)". Necrophobic are as always well playing and the album is also well produced. Featuring 14 tracks and a full playing time of 68:31 minutes it´s a bit long though and to my ears a bit too long. My attention wanders several times during the playing time, even though taken track by track "Womb of Lilithu" is still a quality release. Variation between tracks was never a strength that Necrophobic possessed (even though they almost always nailed it by other means) and it is a minor issue here, when there are so many tracks on the album, that feature a similar sound. The only two tracks that stand out a bit too me are "Furfur" and "Opium Black". The former because it´s an aggressive mid-paced affair and the latter because it feautures clean sung vocals by former Amorphis vocalist Pasi Koskinen. Sometimes clean vocals are also present as backing. The rest of the tracks vary between fast-paced, mid-paced and blasting, featuring tremolo picking chords, aggression, melodic solos, epic majestic sections and hoarse raw vocals.
"Womb of Lilithu" is what I´d characterize as another solid release by Necrophobic. I don´t think it ranks among their better releases though. First of all because it´s too long with too many unremarkable tracks and secondly because it doesn´t push the band´s sound into new territories. Quality wise I think it´s inferior to most of the preceeding releases by the band but a 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved.