Nekrodeus – Asbest LP (Grazil Records)

A batch of records from Austrian record label Grazil Records recently showed up here at Thoughts Words Action HQ. Grazil Records are not strangers to these pages since I had a chance to review their excellent Grazil Records & Friends Vol. 1. sampler a while ago. The first record I picked from the batch for today is a brand new full-length vinyl release by Nekrodeus. It was released by the beforementioned record label about two weeks ago, and I heard from many friends who’re into these genres more than myself that this album is excellent. I had to give it a try, and they weren’t wrong. Asbest LP by Nekrodeus truly stands out from the crowd with its darkness, ambiance, aggression, dynamics, and aesthetics.

Asbest carries nine wisely arranged compositions that span so many extreme music genres. Right with the initial beats of this full-length release, you’ll notice that Nekrodeus are heavily into blackened crust, black metal, death metal, grindcore, hardcore punk, sludge, and doom. You can assemble the list of genres by yourself, and you wouldn’t go wrong considering the entire specter of genres included throughout the album. What impresses me the most is how these musicians involved in Nekrodeus handle all these genres. It’s nearly mindblowing how thoughtfully, cleverly, skillfully these compositions were assembled. They made sure to record and produce them properly, so the entire album could shine even brighter.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of darkness, heaviness, dynamics, and aggression involved in the entire process. These guitar shreds and riffs are as heavy as they could be, but the band doesn’t stop there. The bass guitar also carries a decent amount of blistering fuzziness that contributes to the stoner/sludge/doom ambiance. Of course, the excellent drumming performance is mainly responsible for holding the remainder of the orchestrations in line by delivering profoundly complex rhythmic acrobatics, accentuations, breaks, and fills. The lead vocals range from classic black metal screams and growls to some regular shoutouts. Still, you will also hear occasional singalongs, which is maybe an uncommon thing for the genres I mentioned before.

Everything is thoughtfully combined to satisfy even the pickiest fans of extreme music genres, but those listeners who’re into crust, black, death, grind, sludge, stoner, and doom will especially love this record. Grazil Records thought about the entire packaging, so you’ll be blown away by the quality of this release as well. Head over to Grazil Records for more information about ordering.