Wow, this album is pretty damn sweet. Rocking punk-ish blackmetal? Please, sign me up. "Necro Spirituals" is another release from Denmark's Horned Almighty, a black metal band that proudly burns and churns with corrosive viciousness much like their counterparts, but these guys have no problem kicking you between the legs just to prove a point. Like a smashed nihilist the gentlemen of Horned Almighty proudly vomit a repulsive mess of sickening black metal that smugly fornicates in the slimiest, grittiest, nastiest remains of punk's rotten corpse until the unholy juxtaposition bubbles into the profane result that is "Necro Spirituals." It's loud. It's offensive. It's vile. And I want MORE!Horned Almighty wastes no time jumping into its sinful torment with the title track, a punk-coated rocker jammed full of hellish growls and smoldering attitude. The thirty-five minute quickie copies this simplistic formula, and the band seldom drifts away from the punk-tinged bombardment, but who cares? Horned Almighty makes up for it by beating the pissout of everything in sight. It's actually pretty cool how they balance tremolo riffs with Motφrhead-ish hooks that are only slithers apart, somehow making the twisted equation work to their advantage. It just goes to show that songwriting doesn't need advanced logarithms to look fancy; sometimes you just need some fun.
Every track is a gold calf in its own way, but the riffs throughout "Blessing the World in Pestilence" are easily the best part of the record. "Fountain of a Thousand Plagues" rules as well, continuing the flaming impression the album's opener birthed with killer riffs and a beat that'll make your neck snap. "Blasphemous Burden" and "Absolved in the Sight of God" bring a slower tempo to the devastation, yet still involve infernal mayhem through the absolute misanthropy. The production is polished and booming, but it fits the band incredibly well. That's really all that goes on, but wow, what more can you ask for, really?
"Necro Spirituals" is unapologetically primitive and gruesome. More pissed off than an enraged bear and nihilistic as hell, Horned Almighty has no problem throwing black metal's ass on a meat hook and flaying it with a leather-studded claymore glimmering with an undisputed attitude of impending death. These Danes are masters at what they do; not a single moment goes by when the nine-track slaughter seems even a trifle boring. The bombing never fails to totally bash in humanity's face until its skin becomes ash and nothing remains but a bloody, messy pulp of gore. "Necro Spirituals" kicks bunch of ass, and you'd be an idiot to miss out on this diabolical jaunt.