Necroscene Scumocracy Review
Necrocene
Scumocracy
Personal Records
2026
From the beautifully lush and international vacation destination of Tuscany, Italy, comes the stark contrast of ugly, brutish traditional death metallers Necroscene. Hot on the heels of their 2024 EP Detrimental Paratomy comes their debut full-length, the unapologetically classic and raw-sounding 10 songs of Scumocracy.
This quintet of ghouls (Ste - drums, Apo - vocals, Alex - guitar, Joy - guitar, and Dan - bass) leave no doubts as to where their influences lie on these songs, down to the simplistic, sparse arrangements and punchy and clear, yet vintage Morrisound Studios-inspired production. From the doomish and eerie intro of the opener "Threshold" to the closer "The Lust of Us," this is pure, unadulterated early '90s death metal. One difference I find here is that the album's lyrical themes seem to bend a little more socio-political than the usual zombies, Satan, or blood and guts of most bands of this ilk. Their press states, "There is a crushing weight bearing down on the globe presently, an unbridled destruction that breeds indifference. It is from this bleak reality that NECROSCENE draw their breath, subverting geological terminology into a grim political statement on the unstoppable, death-driven momentum of modern capitalism." The musical backdrop behind these anthems of hopelessness is what I suppose some would call deliberate, pedantic, and abrasive.
Necroscene employ razor-like, precisely untamed riffs with loose, uncalculated drums and a primitive John Tardy/Luc Lemay-esque vocal delivery that is firmly mid-range growl instead of low, rumbling gutturals and, my favorite part of their mix, audible, seemingly finger-style bass guitars. They thrash and plod, then break things down to a crawl ("Ordinary Enemy") before they crank out a doomed-out intro morphing into a chugging, double bass-led, mid-paced groove on "Tempestarii" until it shifts into a Spiritual Healing-era tremolo-picked double time and back again before a surging, fleet-fingered lead outro. "Scale of Grey" is a fire-breathing, d-beat-forward uptick in speed that is nearly hardcore punk in its riffing before a keyboard-led breakdown falls headlong into a chaotic lead break (replete with Rick Rozz whammy abuse) and ends abruptly. "Scumocracy" is another slow- to mid-tempo crusher with shifts in and out of speedier machinations and chromatic- to minor-key guitars, with a churning, chugging breakdown that is my favorite part of the entire album. "Human Lithification" begins with a Slayer-by-way-of-Gorguts slow intro before moving into more double-bass-laden tremolo picking and fast verses.
Nearing the end of the proceedings, the slow burn of "Concrete Petricher" oozes forth like molten lava in musical form. Necroscene has a knack for creating dynamic, heavy, yet easy-to-follow, dare I say, catchy arrangements. "Weapons of the Damned" has a melancholic, particularly Finnish melodic intro before settling into a fast 4/4 moshfest, and then we have the crown jewel, the final track, "The Lust of Us." This is prime Pestilence guitar work with slow- to fast-paced sections and more chaotic soloing and another marching, palm-muted breakdown atop nearly haunting baroque octave parts and a harmonized minor fast section with a pedaling bassline before it all just stops, as if the world they are lamenting has finally met its stark and unfortunate end. I'm left extremely satisfied but wanting more.
Scumocracy is definitely homage-heavy, and we have definitely heard this before, whether it be from the foundations of the genre or the countless new bands doing similar. However, Necroscene occupy a space that, while rooted in the past, they are doing it with much more aplomb and tightly constructed songs. Their simplistic brand of old school sounds fresh and absurdly heavy while accentuating where they come from without coming across as any direct rip-offs. There is enough variance and catchy song structures here to firmly set them apart from the sea of HM-2 clones and countless other acts doing the "'90s death metal" thing. I'll go ahead and say that I enjoyed it so much that it automatically has made my best of 2026. Essential death metal listening here, folks….
RIYL- early Gorguts, Death, Pestilence, Obituary, Cancer, Disincarnate
~TB