Goreaphobia United States

"This release is interesting. In some ways, it is extremely old school, drawing on very early death metal back when it was still more thrash metal than what most recognize as death metal today. But, at the same time, there is a sort of modern and experimental nature to their music - at least on this release.

They do draw a lot on primitive dirty death thrash riffage and old school one-string tremolo death metal riffage, but there are several sections that have an almost tech death feel to them with a flurry of different riffs being thrown at the listener. And you can find these things side by side with riffage of a more crossover thrash and even crust punk character in the same song. To this you can add melodic and rock-oriented guitar solos as well as riffs that make use of more unusual chords than the good old power chord plus bursts of blastbeats and more black metal-tinged feels every now and then and a lot of other cool stuff - there is even some slide guitar on this album. Yes, slide guitar on a death metal album!

And, I must say, while this description may sound like a messy hodgepodge, Goreaphobia actually manage to keep this release very balanced and focused, and all the different elements and inspirations are engendered in a sense of variation, making sure that "Apocalyptic Necromancy" never becomes a boring listen.

Goreaphobia have been around since 1988, but they have primarily remained underground and obscure, so it is understandable if not a lot of people know them, but if you like old school thrashy death metal with a lot of groove, heaviness, melody and old-fashioned brutality, then you should check out this release.

(review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"