Italian band NECRODEATH has been dealing with the dark side of the musical world for more than three decades.  While toiling in relative obscurity, the band has been a well respected member of the thrash metal community for a while. This is evident by their ability to reign in VENOM INC.'s Tony Dolan to do some spoken-word stuff on the record, as well as ex-VOIVOD and current E-FORCE member Eric Forrest, who darkens the final song on the album with his heavy presence.  "Singin' in the Pain" is the band's 13th album, and the veteran band's chops shine on the record's nine songs, a blackened thrash accompaniment to the Stanley Kubrick film "A Clockwork Orange".

For some reason, I missed watching "A Clockwork Orange" in my fifty plus years on this planet, which seems virtually impossible. I understand it's a classic and that it's quite popular within the world of metal.  I've had friends who would readily quote lines from the film.  Colleagues who would dress up as Malcolm McDowell's infamous Alex for Halloween. And yet, I'd have to sheepishly nod in tacit agreement when someone mentioned it as one of the best ever movies, too ashamed to admit otherwise.  But I do know this: NECRODEATH has somehow captured both the horror of the film and its tongue firmly-in-cheek sense of humor within the forty minutes of classic thrash on "Singin' in the Pain."

First song "Gang Fight" starts with the humming of the "Singing in the Rain" melody before launching into some classic blackened thrash, with some heavily effected vocals. Pier Gonella rips into a Kerry King-like solo, pinched notes, squeals and faster than light picking that's there and gone before you know it, and the song launches back into the groove. "Transformer Treatment" has traces of VOIVOD, a pseudo-science fiction riff that lays a foundation for Tony Dolan to growl about seeing things he's never seen before. The song vaults into a classic breakdown after the spoken word part before collapsing into a blast beat driven groove and more soaring and sinking leads from Gonella. Lead singer Flegias spits the title a few times before the song fades out into the next song, "The Sweet Up."  The fade outs are an odd choice on this album, to be honest. Quite a few songs end like this: the band will be in mid-riff and suddenly the mix will just come rapidly down. It's a bit jarring, but I suppose "The Clockwork Orange" wasn't about predictability, so why not just bring the whole thing down?

The best song on the album is the penultimate one, "The Oomny-Ones."  Flegias's vocals drop a register, and bassist GL and drummer Peso lock into a sick, mid-tempo punkish groove. Gonella's guitar playing is a highlight: a twin-guitar harmony before falling into a super cool lead that's filled with squeaks and squeals, the kind of thing you would expect to be emitted by an oomny-one, whatever the hell that is.  (I'm sure it's an allusion to a scene in Kubrick's movie, but I unabashedly claim ignorance in this regard.)

After thirty years of commitment to extreme metal, the Italians of NECRODEATH have earned the right to play whatever the heck they want, and if that's a concept album about a film from the 1970s, then have at it. For a movie and a genre of music that focuses on the violent and the macabre, "Singin' in the Pain" has a lot of fun with its subject matter, and there's a lot to be said for that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a movie to watch.