Mordbrand - Necropsychotic

This death metal band from Sweden (their name means ‘arson’ in Swedish) first performed as a duo before bringing in another member (their new vocalist, Per Boder of God Macabre/Macabre End) and have released their first full album after the reception of their 12” split.

Mordbrand mix rock with death metal in such a way that it manage to evoke old Swedish death metal and bring them back to the fore of what is, at the moment, a crowded sub-genre. Their heady mix of rock and death metal come out from the very first song on the album, although they do focus more on the death metal side later on, including their new and very talented vocalist.

The album seems to start slowly as it them blends into heavy guitar against an unmissable drumbeat that brings it all together, yet their vocalist can actually be heard, even if some of it is less than coherent, yet the general point he is trying to get works, especially with this well-mixed album, where neither the instrumental nor vocal is prioritised at the loss of the other.

The guitar rolls throughout, using a chop and change of chords to back their very strong vocal performance. At time, it can seem like the guitar does take over, but this is completely intentional and is used throughout. An amazing soloist at time, it them has to fight against the drummer and his unmistakeable power and energy as he goes into stutter bang (music so fast you can’t head bang properly and have to do bits of it continually, causing mass headaches). At times the music seems as incoherent as the words to the songs, but this just causes confusion in your mind, and this would be the perfect soundtrack to a nightmare.

Each of the songs has a similar start, more reminiscent of rock or heavy metal than death metal, but this leads you to a false sense of security as the drums and guitar speed up to match the power and beat of the vocalist, who can seem to be at odds with everything else. Yet it works, and it is this that makes it difficult to listen to, and hard to get into, but different from everything else out there. And I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I’m willing to find out!

  1. Eaters Of The Void
  2. Graveyard Revisited
  3. Skarseld (Return To The Unholy)
  4. The Fall of Flesh
  5. Deathbound
  6. Deliverance

Reviewer: twansibon
Jan 2, 2012
Next review: Modus Delicti - Nobody

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