July 2021 Feature Release – The Pit Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Pit has been nominated by Sonny92. It's 1987's seminal "Into The Macabre" debut album from Italian thrashers Necrodeath. I originally recommended this one to Sonny a year or so back as I thought it'd be right up his alley so I'm not surprised at all to see it here. It's a refreshingly dark & vicious experience that I regard as somewhat of an unheralded & underrated gem of the underground extreme metal scene so I'm excited to see it get a little more exposure.

https://metal.academy/releases/9817

I've always really dug this under-appreciated gem from my tape trading days which combines the raw & intense thrash metal of early Kreator & Sodom with the primitive & under-produced brutality of Sarcofago & Vulcano & then throws in a bit of exciting mid-80's Slayer for good measure. It's certainly not the most accomplished of releases but it possesses that underground proto-death metal atmosphere in spades & is particularly vicious & evil for the time. A prime example of what made the early extreme metal scene so great.

4/5

P.S. How funny is their band name!? When is death ever NOT necro?

A clearly raging beast of a thrash metal record that has a real "necro" feel to it, largely by way of the terrible production though.  There's a real gem in here though, trying to get out regardless of whatever it got smothered in at the mixing desk and the album needs recognition for pure effort alone.  More than just an under-produced Kreator clone going on here and I would still recommend all thrash metal fans to take a listen if they haven't (like me) heard before.

3.5/5

Thrash Metal is quickly becoming my weakest genre because, for one, I haven't heard a single Kreator album so I feel like I'm missing some serious influence knowledge apart from this sounding like messier Slayer. It's no doubt that the feel of this album is great with the low production values and overall death motif giving it an eviler than usual edge, but this veers too far into an undesirable type of Thrash without quite being Black Metal for me. The riffing is well performed but a little too all over the place and gets lost within the drumming and the classic Thrash style vocal melodies always seem to make me disinterested. The vocals themselves are great and unique, having a lot more character and personality to them rather than the slightly spoken-word style of 80's Thrash. From reading Daniel's comment it really does remind me of Sarcofago; just a band ripping through the recording studio by any means necessary and combining a ton of early extreme metal influences into one package, but this one is a bit less fun overall for me.

3/5

I'm inexcusably tardy getting my comments in on this month's Pit feature, especially considering it's my suggestion. Sorry.

Anyway, Daniel has given me some great recommendations for more underground 1980's thrash metal albums and this is one of my favourites. I got into metal around the same time as the punk scene exploded here in the UK and I could never understand why the one could not co-exist with the other. Some may argue punk was a fashion-based scene and to some extent this is true, but musically both were about the energy and resistance to authority and I could never understand the two scenes mutual antipathy. I mention this because my love of both punk and metal has always drawn me towards bands that sound like they have a more "garage" mentality and although their playing may not be the most technically gifted, sheer adrenaline and attitude shine through and give certain albums and bands an X-factor that can't be defined by technical assessment. The Italian thrashers debut is an album that, I would contend, is a perfect example of this attitude. Sure at times it sounds sloppy and the production isn't the greatest (although it's nowhere near as bad a s some would have you believe), but it is an adrenaline-fuelled half an hour of balls-out riffing and snarling Kreator-influenced proto-death thrash metal that makes you feel like you could punch through a brick wall. Although 1987 gave us some classic thrash metal albums I personally feel Necrodeath have no reason to feel outgunned by most of them and Into the Macabre fully deserves a place in that year's best of lists.