What stands out to me immediately about ‘Dawn Of The Damned’ is how dynamic the album is. The music has hints of the horror atmosphere typical for early Norwegian black metal, but without sacrificing the riffy, post-thrash nature of early nineties death metal. Sweden’s Necrophobic has attempted this tightrope dance – and occasionally stumbled – since day one, but I think they finally found the perfect balance on ‘Dawn Of The Damned’.
But it could just as easily turn an album into an endless barrage of blast beats that is exhausting to listen to. The combination of black metal and death metal is a potentially interesting one, as the black metal influences can give death metal an eerie atmosphere it would not have otherwise.
