Necare -
Ruin| Necare -
Ruin |
Since most people wouldn’t know what “Necare” means, this band helpfully provides two definitions on the back cover: ::necare:: /neh-ka-reh/ (latin) 1. to kill with malice aforethought. 2. crushing doom/death metal.
The fact that they play “crushing doom/death metal”, display naked breasts on their album cover and are on the Finnish label Firebox Records led me to believe this band was Finnish. But surprise, Necare consists of two American guys from Virginia, who do an admirable job of instrumental multitasking to create this well-rounded doom opus.
There’s a critic snob part of me that wants to call this unoriginal and kind of predictable. And it is, in part. These guys follow the rulebook as written by My Dying Bride and Anathema. But they have studied that book well, and avoid any outright plagiarism. They make all the right doom moves and avoid the mistakes.For one thing, they get a great production job for a way underground debut. This is one of the most full-bodied doom/death production jobs I’ve heard. Every instrument gets the right amount of space, with guitars rightfully up front, while the drums pound heavily, and the keyboards add atmosphere and dominate at the right times, without drowning the guitars out. The vocals are death growls, but they’re actually completely understandable – a rarity in this genre. Maybe it’s just the fact that there’s no foreign accent that makes them clearer to my ears.
Here’s the basic template: atmospheric keyboards or cleanly picked guitar notes start things off, you get sustained power chords and mournful harmony leads, a few slight tempo changes and enough soft/loud dynamics to keep things interesting. The highlight of the album is “Celia”, the 14-minute epic of the album which gives you everything in the doom rulebook and then throws in a rocking wah-wah solo at the end. The lyrics are really interesting on this one – describing a young beauty tragically disfigured in a car wreck. Tragedy and disfigurement aren’t exactly new topics to death or doom metal, but the feeling and perspective of this song make it more genuinely chilling than you would expect. The other lyrics explore similar terrain of the human tragedy – death and the ability or inability of humans to make sense of it. “Gethsemane”, a spoken word piece over one monotone riff, has lyrics that sound inspired by The Passion of the Christ, although the song had to have been written before that movie was released.It’s good to hear this style of music played so competently by my fellow Americans, even if it is a bit derivative. If they continue to hone their craft, they may eventually transcend their influences.
Reviewed by: Dave Smith
| Track #: | Song: | Band Member: | Instrument: | |
| 1 | Stillborn Twilight | r.h. | guitar, bass, keyboards, vocal | 2 | Rite of Shrouds | g.c. | drums, lead guitar, keyboards | 3 | Desire (The Dawn & the Chrysalis) | 4 | Canto xxxiv | 5 | Ruin | 6 | Celia | 7 | Gethsemane | 8 | Waters of Quiet | 9 | Touching Eternity |
