Necronomicon – Return of the Witch (Napalm Records)
Tuesday, 19th March 2013
Primarily known by our neighbors up north in Canada (one of the numerous Canadian bands Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles championed), Necronomicon are bringing their brand of occult death metal to a bigger stage via Napalm Records. Return of the Witch is the band’s first offering in six years, and is as unremarkable as their blatantly-obvious name would suggest.
The band’s bio is spot-on: Necronomicon is the rightful cross between Behemoth and Dimmu Borgir, sans the songwriting savvy and penchant for atmosphere both bands possess. By at large, the Canucks are quite textbook in their execution, mirroring the fury of Behemoth and occasional symphonic burst of Dimmu, except for the fact…these songs aren’t anything to write home about. One could vouch for the Puritanical Europhic Misanthorpia-tinged “Into the Fire” or the blast-a-thon that is “Necropolis,” yet those moments can hardly pull their own weight as Return of the Witch gradually dissolves into a mass of blackened death metal nothingness.
Beyond the two above-mentioned jams, Return of the Witch is one those all-too-frequent forgettable death metal albums. Nothing Necronomicon does will make anyone forget about the Behemoths, Dimmu Borgirs, or Deicides of the world. In fact, it makes one appreciate those band even more, which is to suggest that your time would be better spent on Demigod or Legion than Return of the Witch.
www.myspace.com/necronomiconmetal
(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com)
