NEKKROMANIAC

NEKKROMANIAC “Plague Eater”

By Dr. Abner Mality

You have to be some bad motherfuckers if you’ve got two K’s in your name. And Germany’s NEKKROMANIAC fill the bill. These spike-encrusted goons wallow in the mire of ancient German thrash. The earliest days of SODOM and DESTRUCTION, as well as more obscure cultists like NECRONOMICON and DARKNESS, form the inspiration for these guys.

It takes a certain kind of ballsiness and lunacy to live up to those names and NEKKROMANIAC has that. Lovers of old South American madness and early BATHORY should also dig “Plague Eater”. They have just the right production for this worship. Fortunately, they don’t go too overboard with the raw sound...this is still clear and powerful, but real rough around the edges.

You also need a truckload of riffs to do this kind of thrash right. And the band has this as well. They can rip like greased lightning, but know when to slow down to a moshing skank or a moodier riffs. I would invite you to check out the excellent “Pit and the Pendulum” and “Tyrants Command” to see what I’m talking about. Vocals, also, fit the old German archetype...no growls, but more of a rough shout with occasional high yelps. One track where they kind of overdid things was “Napalm Funeral”, which was too long. These kind of tracks are better in the three to four minute range.

NEKKROMANIAC don’t try to pull the bloody wool over your gouged out eyes. They don’t pretend to be anything but a tribute to the glory days of German thrash. And looked at on that level, they have really succeeded. A brutal time warp here!

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NEKKROMANIAC