UMUR
"Within the Visceria" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Neckbreakker (previously known under the Nakkeknaekker monicker). The album was released through Nuclear Blast in December 2024. A very young band (drummer Anton Bregendorf is for example only 18 years old) from the city of Silkeborg, Neckbreakker was formed in 2020 as Nakkeknaekker and they released a couple of demos before changing their name to Neckbreakker in 2024. An English language version of their original Danish language monicker.
Stylistically they play a heavy and groove laden type of death metal. Rooted in the early 90s old school death metal scene, but there is a bit more to Neckbreakker than that, as they include more contemporary influences too. The heavy sometimes hardcore oriented groove of some parts and the aggressive shouting vocals of Christoffer Kofoed aren´t old school death metal features, but Neckbreakker manage to incorporate those elements pretty well with their more old school death metal features.
The band are well playing, but it´s immediately clear that it´s Bregendorf who is the standout musician in Neckbreakker. Busy, organic, and powerful drumming, which drives the music forward with loads of aggression, heavy swagger, and creativity. You don´t hear that often in this genre of music, and although Neckbreakker doesn´t sound much like Entombed it´s definitely Nicke Andersson´s organic playing style and inventive playing on the early Entombed releases I´m reminded of. It´s not that they have similar playing styles, but it´s the organic groove and constant attention to what is best for the music which they share. Contemporary and very successful fellow contrymen in Baest are bound to be mentioned here too, but Neckbreakker are generally a more diverse and hardcore/groove oriented death metal act than the more traditional old school death metal of Baest.
"Within the Visceria" features a powerful, raw, and overall effective sound production, which suits the material well and upon conclusion it´s a good quality debut release from Neckbreakker, who definitely have the potential to go places with their music. The songwriting is at times a bit too safe and Neckbreakker don´t offer the listener anything they haven´t heard before. It´s not a major issue as especially the musical performances are as strong as they are and the album is as well produced as it is, but a few more catchy and memorable moments wouldn´t have hurt and could have made my overall impression of the album a little more positive. It´s ultimately still a good quality release though and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.