Necrophobic began in '89 and from that year 'till '91 the band released three demos and eventually a 7" EP in early '93. In August of the same year, 'The Nocturnal Silence' was released through Black Mark Productions. Although released just a few months after Dissection's, 'The Somberlain,' this recording bares a strong resemblance to the bands early pioneering melodic death/black metal sound. Much like Dissection, when I first heard this album about ten years ago it absolutely blew me away, but that was via MP3's since I simply couldn't find a copy. Fortunately, Hammerheart Records re-released the album last year and made this classic readily available and for me personally finally a physical copy in my own hand.
The album was produced by Tomas Skogsberg, but the guitar tone is by no means the classic buzzsaw sound that bands like Entombed, Carnage and Dismember had. The rhythm guitar does have a bit of that crunchy raw sound, although the lead guitar is fairly clear and especially melodic too. The guitar work of David Parland (later in Dark Funeral, & Infernal) is usually quite mid-paced most of the way as he delivers an absolutely stunning performance with a multitude of catchy and mesmerizing riffs as well as some tight highly impressive solos too. Anders Strokirk's vocals are performed in a raspy throaty sort of manner that sounds like a fair balance between death and black metal, while Joakim Sterner's drum work is spot on and mighty and again mostly mid-paced in its delivery with only a few parts with blasting double bass. Tobias Sidegård's bass is a bit buried, but its there if you open your ears and look for it.
The album is overly consistent during its forty five minute run with honestly not a dull or wasted moment on these nine songs. Of course the already mentioned guitar is immense, but each song just seems to have this chugging memorable vibe, which at least for me just gets me keyed up and before long my hair is flying all over the place. I really can't pick a favorite, because each one offers up so much and the occasional usage of keyboards, samples, epic spoken parts or acoustics on certain tracks just makes the whole experience all the grander. Still, 'Where Sinners Burn' is definitely up there, as well, 'Before the Dawn' has this malevolent old school rhythm that's hard to resist and 'Unholy Prophecies' is pretty much one of the best songs in this style of metal.
'The Nocturnal Silence' is both classic and cult, and utterly amazing to say the least. One can also hope that this recent re-release will bring this nearly twenty year old gem into peoples lives once again. In the end if you dig stuff like, Unanimated, Dissection, Sacramentum, Mörk Gryning and Vinterland you're going to want to hear this immediately. Absolutely flawless and damn fucking great to finally own a real deal copy of this beast too!
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