NECROWRETCH return to our ears with their fourth Full-Length release... Not following their previous routine of an album every other year. It has been three since the release of Satanic Slavery, which was also released through Season of Mist Underground Activists. In the gap between album, Kev Desecrator who was the Bassist in 2016 before Wenceslas Carrieu took over, Kev was the Guitarist from 2016 until 2019, that role has now also been taken over by Wenceslas, with Pierrick Debeaux coming in from the Bassist role. However, this album was before Pierrick came in. Let us see what the 3 guys came up with.

"Pure Hellfire" starts with a progressing intro, feeling like it will be the build up to some sort of explosive start. The drums kick in and this builds tempo gradually. The song eventually kicks in to the higher gears after the 2-minute mark. The melody is a throwback to old school Black Metal, mixing Thrash and Death Metal together brilliantly. The pace is set to a high level, the song itself is easy to follow and keep up with. The guitar play entices the melody with a few new rhythms towards the end to add a new depth successfully to the song.

"Luciferian Sovranty" continues the frantic pace set down. It does not allow a slow start into the song, just a fast-paced instrumental intro. The aggressive vocals are still taking us through the song nicely. The pace is once more set to the high gears, not giving you time to slow your own thoughts about it. The song is once again, easy to get into and easy to follow. Not as many changes in this song, but for the high quality shown, we do not mind. It has continued the impressive start of this album.

"The Ones from Hell" starts off slower, more emphasis to build the guitars with a more balanced approach. This one seems to building up a more technical melody. The aggressive approach does return, but instead of taking over, it blends the different styles together to create a melody within itself, well played. Just before the 3-minute mark, the song fades away for a few seconds before unleashing another pulsating melody. The song is imbalanced, but they do so with purpose to mix it up, it is a good touch, allowing more styles so early into the album.

"Absolute Evil" has a progressive intro once more; the technical play just shows how many tricks these guys have up their sleeves. It is only a short song, not a filler song just stuck in here for the sake of it, but more of an opportunity for us to work out what we have heard so far and appreciate it. There is the odd scream towards the end, but it is still an instrumental song for most parts. Some bands take a good 5 - 9 minutes to use instrumental songs, this one is short enough to be interesting and long enough to enjoy.

"Codex Obscuritas" does not really expand on the melodies from the instrumental before, but use its own way of opening up. The song slows everything down in the overall progress in the album. Taking a slower approach throughout allows the balance to keep up with the times. There is an old school BM sound again in this song. It is a more progressive song, not as fast as we may have expected it to be, but still working the harmonies well. It does pick up the pace in the latter stages of the song, but not enough to change the balance a great deal.

"Darkness Supreme" has a faster start, which is good to pick up the overall pace on the album. The buildup is high level once more, returning to the Thrash aspect once more. The aggression in the vocals has dwelled slightly, but they remain, like the song, easy to follow and get into. The song goes into a weird fade out towards the end, which although it is unexpected, not sure it was needed. The good thing about it is that they are trying new aspects and approaches even at the latter stages of the album and you cannot fault them for hat.

"Through the Black Abyss" is another instrumental used to break down the pace of the album. It is once more not a long song, but it does have a few changes and mixes a few styles we have heard to this point.  It does not expand too far due to the lack of time given, but it still a decent idea to put it here.

"Necrowretch" returns the pace, which the album has been oozing. The aggression returns within the vocals. There us a return to the Death Metal feel of the song mixing the melodies together. Although this is a trick that is not new, it does make a good return to form, it closes out the album in style instead of just fading away.

A good album, kept things up nicely. Could have added more experimental flare, but what it did, it did well. A good album for an intro into the band.  The songs work well towards what the band seemingly wanted, and for that it is a good end product