Based in London but with an international line-up of Swedish, Spanish, Greek, and Polish musicians, Black/Death/Thrash Metal fourpiece Necromaniac refer to their music as Morbid Metal. They have been lurking in the darkest shadows of the underground for the past thirteen years, forging their craft and delivering a couple of demos and an EP.
Now, Necromaniac are set to unleash their debut full-length, Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable, and it is an offering that lives up to the promise of its title.
Necromaniac – Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable
Release Date: 13 January 2025
Words: Jools Green
Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable delivers nine new tracks by Necromaniac, who continue to be inspired by and explore subjects that include death, occultism, witchcraft blasphemy, darkness and necromancy. It features guest musicians A.A. Nemtheanga of Primordial, Negative Plane’s Nameless Void, and the mysteriously enigmatic A Corpse Without Soul.
Opening piece, Caput Draconis, is as dark, ominous and as dramatic as it gets. Ominous riffs meet militaristic drum rhythms, extra pomp and ceremony coming from dramatic timpani beats are a regular feature on this release and one of my favourite aspects. With a haunting soaring ‘Choir’ from guest vocalist A.A. Nemtheanga, this is a track that grabs your attention and makes you want to hear more.
Daemonomantia is a dark, driving and thrashy onslaught. The vocals are deep and acidic, the drum work powerful and unrelenting. The timpani crashes and bursts of exhilarating second-half leadwork help to take this crushing brute of a track to the next level. A superbly engaging and exciting piece.
Grave Mound Oath opens on eerie keyboards but swiftly develops a hugely engaging Black Metal plodding groove punctuated with timpani before the pace and direction switches and ramps up. A great piece filled with dark twists, turns and surprises across its duration.
Calling Forth The Shade is the first of two pieces to feature A Corpse Without Soul delivering guest vocals. With an eerie musical content that gradually builds, it is bolstered by superbly deranged vocals consisting of a tortuous and hugely expressive meld or snarls, wails, that also build in volume and fury.
I do like how the vocals are a strong feature of this track. The drum and guitar work create an eerie framework for them. Further in, they are very expressively delivered as spoken content with unnerving clarity, bursting into cackling laughter towards the close. With the keyboard and soundbite outro completing the imagery already forming in your mind, this is a superb piece.
An eerie guitar and bass repeat opens Great Is The Thirst Of The Restless Dead. This is a piece that ramps up to a frantic breakneck pace once the intro has passed, the vocals menacing and the high-speed riffing exciting and engaging.
Teraphim (Skull Sorcery) harbours a thrashy undercurrent amidst the blackness. The driving riffs, acidic menacing vocals, and subtle timpani beats add to the sinister mood and the second half leadwork brings an exotic element to the sound.
The brief Conjuration Of St. Cyprian is the second piece to feature A Corpse Without Soul’s guest vocals. It is a subtle but effective meld of deranged whispers and distant voices, haunting keys and bleak, simple guitar work. A piece that proves less can definitely be more.
Opening on a thrashy drive, Swedenborg’s Skull packs a punch from the offset, dropping back to something blacker and bleaker. The build is dramatic and driving with pounding timpani beats, midway returning to that almost runaway thrashy pace it opened with.
Final piece, Necromancess / Cauda Draconis, features synths and bell samples from the final guest, Nameless Void (Negative Plane). A huge piece, at over ten minutes duration, it opens dark and reflective, with a slow and sinister build. The vocals are acidic and menacing, the riffs unnerving, with occasional timpani beats echoing throughout the track.
Just before midway, the pace quickens and becomes more complex. The exotic-tinged leadwork that bursts forth midway is as sublime as it is sinister before plunging back into the eerie depths where unnerving whispers and haunting riffs dwell. Those previously mentioned bell samples add to the eerie quality, making this a superb album closer.
Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable is an excellent album, engaging end to end, darkly atmospheric and filled with intrigue.
It will be available as a CD and digital release from Invictus Productions in Europe Sciomancy, Malediction & Rites Abominable | Necromaniac | Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive in North America. It will also be released on vinyl and cassette at a later date, yet to be announced.
