MY TWO FAVORITE NECROPHOBIC RELEASES

will probably always be these two albums. The Nocturnal Silence (1993) here on a 2018 reissue vinyl on Hammerheart Records and the Satanic Blasphemies (2009) one is a reissue vinyl from 2011 on Floga Records.

"Det var bättre förr" is Swedish for "it used to be better" it just sounds so much better in my native tongue then in English. That's actually why I wrote this whole Necrophobic post in Swedish on Instagram @herr_perdition. Got my point got across much better that way. I believe at least?

But we'll return to the "det var bättre förr" statement later in this post.

In the mid 90's Necrophobic really didn't mean anything for me. The only release I had was a cassette-tape of The Nocturnal Silence recorded from a CD that a friend owned. Didn't hear the greatness of it back then and I didn't play it often. I just considered them as another band in an already overpopulated Swedish Death/Black Metal scene.

The only thing I really cared about was that the Dark Funeral guitarist David "Blackmoon" Parland (1970-2013) once had been original member when Necrophobic started back in 1989. He was a member with the band until 1996, so he participated on The Nocturnal Silence, all 3 demos before the album and both EP's The Call (1993) and Spawned By Evil (1996). He also made a very short return in the year 2000.

When me and my friend would discuss music of the harder kind in the mid to late 90's Necrophobic was a band I often would refer to as "why do they even bother". What I meant with that was I didn't hear any potential to them ever be something within the scene. Sure it's fun playing music, touring, record and release albums. There's nothing wrong with that at all!

They were signed to Black Mark Production and as everyone knows if you weren't Bathory on that label well then you're not Bathory. I just felt Necrophobic were in a weird spot in the scene.

Necrophobic toiled on during the 90's and released two more albums Darkside (1997) and The Third Antichrist (1999) before those also the rather boring EP Spawned By Evil with a bunch of covers of Venom, Slayer and Bathory.

Think I just listened to those two albums once at a record store in my hometown back when they were released. The production and music I thought sounded weak back then. That was also recorded in Sunlight like The Nocturnal Silence.

When they signed with the Swedish label Regain Records and released the album Hrimthursum in 2006 it was like something had happened with Necrophobic.

Had they finally sold their souls to the Devil? Either way it was a really an amazing album. Maybe they just got a lucky break? But the follow-up to that one Death To All (2009) was also really great.

Also in 2009 the compilation album Satanic Blasphemies was released with two of their excellent demos. Slow Asphyxiation (1990) and Unholy Prophecies (1991) also their brilliant EP The Call (1992). It's worth buying the compilation just for that EP alone in my opinion but to get the demos just adds so much more value to this release.

After realizing that Necrophobic were a force to be recon with I searched out and revisited both the Darkside and The Third Antichrist albums and found them to be really enjoyable. Sure they ain't as good as the others I mentioned but both are definitely worth your time and money.

But back to the "det var bättre förr" statement. How many bands within the early Swedish Death Metal scene doesn't that apply to? I mean so many of my old favorite bands in the genre like Grave, Unleashed, Entombed, Hypocrisy etc. had their best creative outlet and recorded the best albums in the beginning of their career.

While Necrophobic with their latest album Mark Of The Necrogram is a contender for my list of the best albums released in the amazing year that 2018 has been.

Even if their oldest material is my favorite period of Necrophobic. I'm really glad they kept going and that they did "bothered". All the success they have gotten now I would say that they earned it so much more then other more prominent bands that only live on former glory.

Will I do more posts in Swedish over at my Instagram? Well not in the near future but who knows if I feel it's right maybe.

This post was written a couple of months ago and it's not until now I finally decided to post this Swedish & English cross over one.

Anyway two most have albums, check out Necrophobic if you haven't already!