Review: Necroart “Caino” [The Goatmancer records]

It is quite hard to put a genre label on Necroart. While their black metal influences are quite clearly palpable with their atmosphere and tortured vocals, the melo-death riffing is also distributed all throughout the album. As a matter of fact, the vocal by Massimo Finotello also transitions between these two styles quite frequently. Then again, their song structures are quite unusual, sometimes even for both the genres, giving the band am unique edge in a sea of similarly sounding artists out there, But there is a clear inconsistency in the quality of the overall album. But, at the end of the day, their music is enjoyable with its own flavors despite having some rough edges that need tweaking.

The style incorporated by Necroart certainly seems to have its root in the extreme reaches of metal, but there is a certain bit of progressiveness which cannot be denied also. Clearly influenced by black metal, the band utilizes a varied vocal ranging from black metal screams to death metal growls and even some clean parts in between to enhance the atmosphere. There is melodic riffing thrown into the mix quite often in the backdrop to give the listener a unique blend of blackened melodic death metal.

Massimo Finotello really does a commendable job in the vocal department. Often in cases of extreme metal, the vocals get the unimportant part due to the instruments really taking the music away, but not so in this case. Finotello molds the music in his ways with his varied and tortured vocals, really adding to the grittiness and darker themes of the music. The dual guitar from Davide Zampa and Fillipo Galbusera gives a stunning performance with often melodic yet always brutal riffing and overall chaotic beauty. Nothing more to say about the rest of the members, but the overall effect seemed exquisitely gelled together and it is quite apparent that these have been working together for a while now.

My only complaint with the album might its lack of consistency. There is a definite intro and outro complementing the rest of the tracks, but some tracks are really not on par with others. I would have liked if the band would have been a bit more structured with their total output. And a few of the tracks seem a bit too stretched at times despite the overall short length of the record.

“Mastodon Rising” is a killer track, with an engrossing intro leading to a strong riff reminding us of the gigantic creature mentioned in the title. Caino is another excellent song, with showcasing the band’s strengths in both their instrumental and creative department. “Flames” is another short and sweet burst of death metal goodness with a strong vocal performance. “One Is All, All Is One” starts off quite strong and has its moments, but is rather a bit too long for its own good.

Despite the shortcomings and missteps I mentioned above, I would certainly give the band credit for creating this unique album. And I would also like to mention that the songs are quite enjoyable even after multiple listens. May be I should check out their previous outings to see the progression of their styles, but for now this one I am quite hopeful for their future.