Time Signature Embrace the oracle...

Genre: thrash metal

They are Norwegian. They play thrash. They kick ass.

Nekromantheon are back with the follow-up to their debut album from 2010, "Divinity of Death". and on this their second album, "Rise, Vulcan Spectre" the delivers uncompromising thrash metal. The style is raw and simple - though not as primitive as a black thrash - with emphasis on speed and aggression, but also with plenty of the obligatory heavy sections and breakdowns.

The riffing is solid, ultra-aggressive and not too quirky, but not too simple, while the drums thunder away, and the solos are performed, true to the old-school thrash ethos, with loads of whammy madness and shreddy insanity.

Stylistically, the music on "Rise, Vulcan Spectre" compares with raw and aggressive thrash metal along the lines of early Slayer, early Sacred Reich and early Sepultura, but there are also a few references to speed metal a la early Megadeth (as in 'Blood Wisdom') and the more dirty style that Celtic Frost delivered post Hellhammer.

It may well be that "Rise, Vulcan Spectre" is old school and retro... and that's what makes it so awesome.

A must for fans of old school thrash metal.

UMUR "We're Rotting" is a compilation album by Norwegian thrash metal act Nekromantheon. The compilation was released in November 2011 by Duplicate Records. It´s limited to 500 vinyl copies.

The compilation collects the tracks from the "We're Rotting (2007)" EP, the 2 tracks Nekromantheon contributed to the "Speed n' Spikes Vol. III (2008)" split, the "Tortured in Tartaros" track, that also appeared on the band´s debut full-length studio album "Divinity of Death (2010)", and an unreleased outro.

We´re talking 11 tracks of furiously fast-paced and raw old school thrash metal. Early Slayer, the unholy German triumvirate Kreator, Sodom and Destruction and maybe a slight bit of early Voivod too and you pretty much know what you´re in for. Bands playing retro thrash metal like this seldom bring anything new to the table and most pale in comparison to their idols. While the former statement is pretty much true on "We're Rotting" the latter certainly isn´t. The music on this compilation is delivered with fierce aggression and relentless energy (I dare you to not bang your head while listening to the "title" track on this compilation) but what´s most important the songs are well written and memorable.

The sound production on all tracks is raw but not lo-fi in any way. It´s not particularly audible that the tracks on the compilation are from three different releases. "We're Rotting" is both consistent in style and quality and if I didn´t know better this could easily have been a full-length studio album rather than a compilation. A 4 star rating is fully deserved for making my head bang like a madman while helplessly playing air drums and air guitar.

Time Signature We're rocking...

Genre: old school thrash metal

Containing tracks from the 2007-demo "We're Rotting" and the third installment in the "Speed 'n' Spikes" series of splits (also containing a track from their debut album), this release documents Norwegian thrashers Nekromantheon's talent for writing top class thrash metal.

Although collecting tracks from three releases, this release is coherent in style and solidly rooted in old school thrash metal. Furious and rocking virtually all tracks on "We're Rotting" are built around solid classic-styled thrash metal riffage which goes well with the wah-loaded fast and shreddy thrash solos and brutishly yelled vocals. Fans of early Sacred Reich, Sepultura and Slayer as well as Teutonic thrash metal will probably enjoy the old school thrash riffage immensely.

The production is not polished, but still of quite good quality and it definitely does the awesome old school thrash metal tunes on the album a lot of justice.

"We're Rotting" offers well-performed and strong old school thrash metal, rich in classic thrash metal riffs, aggression and lots of class.