Sweden is undoubtedly a gold mine when it comes to discovering some of the heaviest and most controversial acts in extreme metal. From Amon Amarth to In Flames and many, many more, one will always find something to quench their personal taste for the brutal and blackened...and today's act is no different. Nekrokraft is a band that mixes elements of black, death and thrash metal into one entity and, since their 2012 inception, they have proven themselves worthy through the hard-hitting work they've pushed out thus far.
As it stands, today's full length titled Servants by Nekrokraft is the Swedish outfit's second album released via The Sign Records. The nearly 43 minute release contains nine tracks that allude to the band's themes of the Occult, folklore and mythology in addition to the blackened thrash-death metal formula that is being put on display yet again. Without any further delay, let's get into the details of this offering.
Servants is a very heavy, fast and kvlt-like album that feels like it constantly has a wall of sound around its aura. Every instrument is doing its own thing, but in a cohesive and fluid manner. For instance, in one section you will have guitar lines that are playing high notes whilst drumming patterns are focusing on double bass and vocals are centered around high shrieks and such; meanwhile, you'll get your usual guitar solo played over blast beats once in a while. However, everything is well balanced for the most part. Additionally, the mixture of the aforementioned heavy metal subgenres is done very competently in this release, with bangers like "Lechery", "Brimstone and Flames", as well as "Dance ov the Nekrolytes" highlighting these aspects of the music. The melodies in some portions are subtle, yet intruiging too.
There could've been greater utilization of the guitar solos in certain tracks, since the death metal aspects of this album felt slightly lacking at times. Also, some of the drumming samples sounded slightly off on my first listen, though this may have been an issue involving other factors (such as the listening method, speakers, etc.).
In all, Servants by Nekrokraft is a solid follow-up and sophomore release with a ton of fluid and fast paced shredding and black metal aesthetics. While this is not a perfect album, it surely does feature some enjoyable aspects to it and I would gladly recommend this one to most death and black metal listeners.
Fave Tracks: "Lechery", "Brimstone and Flames", "Dance ov the Nekrolytes"
For Fans Of: Necrophobic, Septicflesh
**This release is available now here and at other retailers!**
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-Review by: Dave Raffy
Musician, reviewer, fan & promoter
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