The original Necronomicon come from Germany. They formed in 1983, when I was 10 years old and bands like Kiss, Mötley Crüe and Twisted Sister were hot stuff. Mötley Crüe's 'Shout at the Devil' was probably the most "evil" stuff that had polluted my ears and I had no clue there was as heavy music as thrash metal.

'Escalation' is the band's 3rd full length in 3 years. And some bands take fucking 5 years breaks between two! And look what happens; Metallica. Necronomicon's self-titled debut was manic thrash/speed metal, about the second one I haven't heard. 'Escalation's one foot is in that territory. This album has its manic moments, surely, but the band had learned to lift its foot off the gas pedal too. It never gets slow, but sticks to fast or mid-paced stuff. Throughout the album the band showcases speed transitions and catchy songwriting, not sticking to brutality alone. Great memorable riffs, fast hellish guitar solos and fine lead work, varying commanding drumming and rough echoing vocals (reminding me quite a lot of Schmier, both old and new) backed up by shouty gang vocals plus some heavy metal touches in guitar work. Very German, and fine altogether, if not really anything too unique. 'Escalation' sits nicely between Destruction's and Assassin's early works, never sounding as a carbon copy of either. 'Dirty Minds' with its "lovely" perverse groaning is a humour piece à la Tankard, and 'Mosh the A B C' is another funny piece. 'Dirty Minds' actually sounds like a jokey thrashy version of 1980s US "hair metal" bands, hehee. Humour is extremely tough form of art, but Necronomicon made it work. Practically this humour thing does not fit perfectly with darker songs (eg. eerie acoustic opening of 'Cold Ages (Darklands III)'). But what the fuck, it's all about having good time, right?

The band's performance smells sweat and is tight, but sound is a tad too trebly. The sound is quite airy, as there's echoing elements, such as aforementioned vocals. However, this way every instrument is well audible, except rhythm guitar which is quite quiet at times. Hmm, maybe how they wanted it, though, because it varies. This ain't non-uniform as the whole, but if this had fatter sound, this would slay! Cover art does slay, though! Only the lyrics are missing, dammit. This reminds me about the reissue of 'Escalation', titled 'The Devils Tongue' with different cover artwork. Beware of that, it's this album and the band didn't approve the reissue!

'Escalation' is a must hear for people who enjoy German thrash/speed metal. The music and the band have loads of things I enjoy listening to, basically their metal is done the way I love to hear it. In my opinion this is truly enjoyable headbang mayhem with memorable songs and individuality. Truly "blast from the past", so to speak, and now I must seek out the rest of the band's releases.

Rating: 8- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
06/10/2005 16:07