Once in a blue moon, I’ll review a band I know virtually nothing about, like Necropanther. Up until a couple months ago, I had zero awareness of this band whatsoever. It wasn’t until their PR firm started sending me promo emails regarding their latest album, Betrayal, that I familiarized myself. First off, the name “Necropanther” is badass and stylistically ambiguous. Do these guys play thrash metal? Death metal? Black metal? Speed metal? Hell, glam metal? I didn’t know and didn’t really care. All I knew was with a name like that, you’d have to try hard to suck.
Lucky for me, Necropanther doesn’t suck one bit. Not only that, but they also come off as a throwback to a very specific era in metal history that’s near and dear to my heart, partially because I lived through it. Remember that window in time between the late ’00s and early ’10s when extreme metal bands didn’t know if they wanted to be black, death, or thrash metal, so they just threw all 3 in a blender and voila? The biggest example of this niche that comes to mind is early Skeletonwitch, before they jumped the black metal shark, but I digress. Anyways, Necropanther nails the sound and feeling of this era to a T, and I’m all for it.
On the surface, Betrayal can be categorized as a thrash metal record with forays into 90s melo death and 90s black metal worship. This is made apparent by the opening “One and Only”, a ripping thrash with harsh vocals and heroic guitar flourishes. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this was a lost Skeletonwitch song circa 2011. The same can be said for cuts like the Coma of Souls era Kreator-esque “If You Can Count”, the ignorant “Out to the Sand”, and the pummeling closing title track. Necropanther are able to pack elements of black, death, thrash, and more into concise 3-4 minute bursts of brutality without breaking a sweat or coming off as forced.
Scattered about these exciting amalgamations are straightforward melo death anthems, that almost sound less like At the Gates and more like the 00s metalcore bands who owe their careers to At the Gates (i.e. Unearth, Darkest Hour, etc.). Alarming as that may be to purists, I was shocked how much I enjoyed the nostalgic feeling of songs like “Covenant”, “Breathe Evil”, and “Furies”, especially in an age where melo death is nearly devoid of death, characterized by squeaky clean production and endless clichés. The blackened moments on this outing like “Wanderers” and “Don’t Stop for Death” lie a bit more on the predictable side of things, but doesn’t harm the cohesion or impact of the end product in the grand scheme of things.
Contrary to its title, Betrayal is anything but a betrayal to the generation who grew up through the era it channels. It takes me back to that era when VH1 Classic, iTunes Genius, and Music Choice’s Metal channel were my three biggest sources of discovering bands, and my biggest responsibility was tomorrow’s homework, not taxes. *sigh* Oh to be 13 again. Life was simpler, and so was the metal. Now here I am virtually yelling at scenecore revival bands to “Get off my lawn!” Grandpa Simpson was right when he said, “It’ll happen to you!”
7 out of 10
Label: Independent
Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Skeletonwitch, At the Gates, Kreator