Origin: Valence, Drôme, France 🇫🇷
Genre: Black / Death Metal
Quite possibly the world of Satanic metal’s best kept secret are France’s Necrowretch and to say that their style of raining down the Hellfire is of the most wicked consort would be a gross understatement. Always pushing the limits of both sound and concept; waging their Unholy War upon mankind with their every volume, particularly with their past three records: 2015’s “With Serpents Scourge”, 2017’s “Satanic Slavery” and their most recent “The Ones From Hell” LP. Now, Iblis calls from the deep and along with him in the shadows of guise lurks Dajjal. His swords of deception hoisted high in slight of divinity’s curse. On February 2, 2024, Necrowretch will release “Swords of Dajjal” via the prestigious Season of Mist.
Unlike Necrowretch’s previous effort, “Swords of Dajjal” is a deeper delving into the realm of straight, contemporary black metal. The death/black metal stylings of “The Ones From Hell” pushed a bit further toward the background this time in order to prepare a way for the honoring of the finest art. Any move further toward what’s considered to be true black metal is a good thing and Necrowretch happen to be striding with furious momentum in that particular direction. But not with the kind of elegance or melodic sensibility you might be expecting. Not even in the olde Mayhem or in the modern-day Marduk ways of spreading death are these tracks realized but in the throes of passion, aggression and rage are they crafted instead. A true adversary’s delight and no finer representation of what constitutes the ultimate BM experience: “The Fifth Door” and the titular cut – just like the rest of the tracks on the record – compositional specimens, but more than anything else, it’s in the way that vision leader Vlad wholeheartedly embraces the energy of the music that makes for such an immersive record; charged by the purest diabolical currents and riding their fevered energy into a state of unbridled fury as he incurs his multi-textured vocal scourge through the unleashing of fiendish snarls, desperate shouts and hearty grunts.
Conceptually, “Swords of Dajjal” is based on Islamic eschatology as it details the coming of the Dajjal – the great deceivers, the false prophets, the Antichrists. A nice change of pace from the pervasive number of Kabbalah-based albums and of course the usual tidal wave of diabolism-based material that are being released today. And the quiet class of it all, the modest “don’t mind me, I’m just the fucking best” sort of swagger that the band and the music exude are simply priceless. Some of the highlights of the record include the rare melodic passages that make up the intro and chorus to the opening track, “Ksar-Al Kufar”, the highly cinematic atmosphere and the Necrophobic-worshipping guitar work in “Numidian Knowledge” and the use of various stringed instruments besides the traditional guitar throughout the entirety of the recording that when combined with its overall level of seething aggression provide the listener with a multi-faceted black metal experience. Nothing short of professional grade and no finer example of what contemporary BM should sound like, but of course accented by all those mighty death metal elements that just sweeten the deal even more.
How quietly and with such class do Necrowretch make their impact here with “Swords of Dajjal”. Smell the acrid stench of betrayal and the smolder of destruction now as they permeate the atmosphere in this most infernal chapter to Necrowretch’s criminally underrated discography. Embrace evil! Form with its many shapes and adapt to its many manifestations now as we prepare for our rapturous descent into Armageddon. These are the fabled days of world end and I can think of no finer record to track the sound of it all than “Swords of Dajjal”.
9.5/10
Experience “Numidian Knowledge” from “Swords of Dajjal” right here as presented by Season of Mist:
~Jeger
