Review Summary: One demo wonders vol. 1: Necrovore
Necrovore were an extremely short lived but highly important and influential early death metal band out of Texas. They released only one demo, 1987's "Divus de Mortuus", but still managed to leave a massive mark on the development of the death metal genre. They had an ugly, primitive and violent sound similar to other mid 80s proto-death metal such as Possessed, Master/Death Strike and Death/Mantas. "Divus de Mortuus" is still considered a classic by many, and for good reason, considering how well-developed and ahead of its time it was.
The entire demo clocks in at only 17 and a half minutes, but it delivers the goods hard and fast and most certainly doesn't disappoint. The production is mucky and low end, which serves their mammoth disgusting sound well. The riffs are very thrashy, but unmistakably fit in with an early death metal sound. They alternate between primitive blast-driven head smashers and thrashing mid-paced breaks, laying on the filth with powerfully harsh and ugly chords. There are some dissonant bits and pieces as well as tremolo picked riffs, which on top of the heavy and low end sound of the riffs makes a clear distinction from thrash metal. There some guitar solos to be found, which are mostly shredding noise solos fitting in with the music's violent primitive sound. The vocals are puke-drenched raspy yells and screams rather than the grunts and growls seen later in the development of death metal. The singer delivers a real gut-wrenching performance, belting out his primal screams as a cacophonous maelstrom unfolds behind him. The bass is mostly incomprehensible, but can be deciphered plunking away in the background if you listen very closely. The drums are mostly violent mid paced blasts, but sometimes switch into some slightly more complex beats or utterly mammoth smashing in the breakdowns. The mixing and production aren't particularly great, but compared to a lot of demo stage stuff around at this time the sound is clear and audible, and for those who dig lower production stuff it's just perfect.
Necrovore's "Divus de Mortuus" demo remains a filthy classic and is a leap forward in the early development of the death metal genre. Despite having unimpressive production and a particularly short running time, it's a very well put together demo and worthy of the praise or at least the attention of any death metal fan. It's a crying shame that these guys couldn't have put out an album or develop more as a band, although recently there has been a bootleg (or possibly official release) titled "Unreleased Evil" with some additional material. Also apparently the band has reformed, but who knows what a disaster that may be. Fans of early death metal and death/thrash, get your hands on this slab of disgusting trash right now.
