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For some it might be a surprise that Necronomicon was founded in 1984 in Lörrach / Germany. Between the mid-80's and 1994 they released 4 albums, then a break and in 2004 they returned with Construction Of Evil. Invictus is their 3rd album after their return.
With the intro Invictus they head into the album in a dramatic way, a spoken words part leads you into the tune. And soon guitar riffs show their real sound - a mix of German and American thrash with power metal elements. At Unleashed some passages remind me of early Helloween, just more thrashy.... Bloody Bastards shows similarities to Slayer, but many bands are influenced by them. A heavy beat is dominating Thoughts Running Free, a thrash'n'roll monster. Upon Black Wings is a guitar-driven, thrashy power metal tune, same same but different is Face To The Wall. Back to thrash the place with Pandoras Box. Violin leads you into Before The Curtain Falls, slowly with acoustic guitar, violin and vocals they continue before picking up speed and heaviness. Quite a surprise! A heavy but balladesque track with clean vocals that definitely shows that Necronomicon have more to offer then 'just' thrashy riffs!
With Possessed By Evil they re-recorded one of their classics and with Possessed Again they even offer an unplugged tune!
You see, Necronomicon stay true to their thrash roots, but show variations - and that makes Invictus interesting for open-minded metal heads who aren't major thrash fans. But I think a few songs would profit from being a bit shortened... If you get hold of the limited edition you get 4 bonus tracks, live versions recorded back in the days in Russia. Value for money!
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