“The Seal” is an ominous, two minute interlude/instrumental that gives the listener a brief respite from the brutality, before jumping right back in with “Dark Heart,” a cold and regal dose of calculated aggression with a black metal vibe. The guitar work on Necropolis is excellent, with memorable riffs and a few wicked solos on songs like “Impure.”
Things get a bit cheesy on “Summoning The Futura,” another interlude that’s spoken word, and I guess meant to be scary/evil, but doesn’t really work. However, the song that immediately follows, “Anger,” does work. It lives up to the title, and speeds up and slows down with varying degrees of hostility.
Vader strays from their tried-and-true formula on the CD’s last track “When The Sun Drowns In Dark.” They slow down the tempo and add more atmosphere. The regular version of Necropolis is a very good death metal album, and if you want to spend an extra buck or two, the special edition includes a live DVD along with a couple of extra cover songs (Metallica’s “Fight Fire With Fire” and Venom’s “Black Metal”).
(released September 22, 2009 on Nuclear Blast Records)
