UMUR "Necro Sapiens" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish, Aarhus based death metal act Baest. The album was released through Century Media Records in March 2021. It´s the successor to "Venenum" from 2019 and as the case also was on the predecessor, the quintet lineup who recorded the band´s debut full-length studio album "Danse Macabre (2018)" is still intact on "Necro Sapiens".

Stylistically the material on "Necro Sapiens" continue the early 90s death metal style of the two predecessors and it´s still Morbid Angel I think about first when listening to Baest. The influence from the early 90s Swedish death metal scene is not as apparent on "Necro Sapiens", as it was on the preceding releases. The music is relatively straight forward death metal, but Baest have honed their songwriting skills and the tracks are generally both catchy and memorable. Baest simply understand how to write an effectful death metal tune. The title track is probably the best example of that (it´s an infectiously catchy track), but every track on the album features hooks of some sort. A killer riff, harmonies, a growling part, a driving beat. Baest have always been a well playing band and continue to be so on this album, so it´s definitely in the songwriting department they´ve made most advances.

"Necro Sapiens" features a powerful, brutal, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly, and while the two predecessors definitely also feature well sounding production jobs, this is just another feature on "Necro Sapiens" which is of an even higher quality than what is featured on the preceding releases.

Baest understand the importance of recognisable moments and catchy hooks in this type of death metal, and they deliver that while still retaining old school death metal brutality and rawness. It´s not an easy balance to strike without resorting to melodic leads or other features which are easy on the ears, but also a slightly cheap trick to create something catchy in music this brutal. Baest pretty much avoid those pitfalls, and upon conclusion just deliver a great old school death metal attack, with references to both the US Florida scene and the old school Swedish death metal style. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.