The fiendish masters of Singapore are back with another offering for 2022, and this time VRYKOLAKAS summons energies from a darkened past to wreak chaos through The Necromantic Revocation. This grimoire includes three hymns that were first witnessed on the demo of 1992, along with four others that are just now being unearthed, and these modern recordings preserve a raw and primal aura while allowing the orchestrations to become properly reanimated. Many striking events are encountered as VRYKOLAKAS exercises the blackened side of their art, with The Necromantic Revocation carrying out instrumental rites to achieve infernal dominion, and ancient forces take hold with madness while navigating the void of its vile abyssal realms.
A gateway opens into hellish depths on “Necromantic Evocation,” and the descent past its gaping threshold is reflected in low-end tremolo currents, which produce a murky substance that oozes throughout the mass. Inspired visions manifest as they pursue multiple detailed courses within each track, and while this technique seems to dominate most of the compositions, there are various accented points to drive further complexity, along with chord impacts pounding from beneath the abyss. These elements often combine to form distinct rhythmic structures, and their utility extends to syllabled strikes of the featured deity on “Thy Lord Vrykolakas,” after its creeping emergence highlights the raw crunch of heavier layers. The percussive forces parallel many developments with intricate fills and grooves, including areas here enhanced by the calculated entry of double bass, and blast beats reverberate with the genre’s immortal pulse to sustain an old-school summoning. Those paces occasionally conspire with abrupt grooving transitions to conjure a turbulent effect, and the allure of that unpredictability characterizes “Blasphemous Womb Spawn,” where a solo also rises amid the havoc for maximum torment.
The intensity shifts during slow passages to amplify darker influences, and “Baptism To Beelzebub” exemplifies this approach when its noted shapes carry eeriness over the surrounding arrangements. Their derangement is echoed in vocal laughter, which captures the dynamism of another notable component, and the vocals effectively heighten an overall cavernous tone while merging harsh layers to emphasize certain invocations. “Blasphemous Womb Spawn” is one hymn plagued by that possession, and it advances alongside points of throbbing riff dissonance as tremolo forms circulate to induce a hypnotic frenzy. Melodic features are rampant across the expanse, with lead notes infused for the sealing of a potent opening rite, and haunting bass lines provide a distinguished initiation on “Perverse Lust Necrophiliac.” A similar event is encountered on “Darker Than the Occult,” where fretted patterns abound for a pronounced enchantment, and these malevolent vibrations persist through other perceived tonal variations in the evolving riffs. A foreboding effect manifests in the final elevations of “Nocturnal Demons of Death,” and it gathers a legion of wrath to realize the ultimate consummation.
This aural punishment is reinforced by layers of nefarious subject matter within the verses, and a dark bond is forged on “Necromantic Evocation” when summoning “Our great minister Lucifuge.” Demands to “Renounce your god” drive an unholy conversion, and it continues on “Baptism To Beelzebub” when taking “The black book in exchange for the soiled gospel.” A forced submission and the dominion of devilish might is prominent throughout, with “You shall bow as I sprinkle the putrid fluids” being one assertion of that authority, and “Kneel to your lord” also commands reverence on “Thy Lord Vrykolakas.” Scenes where “As the torture climaxes I ensnare your souls” joins these influences with an eternal scourge, and a battle between angels and demons is conveyed as “Wings succumb to horns” on “Blasphemous Womb Spawn,” along with aims to “Derail the souls from purity.” The onslaught continues while “Desecrating Eden” and “Trampling on the fallen,” which leads to a victory perceived in “Reigning Heaven’s empire with iron fist and savage power,” and its reference to “Temples of the vices” joins the calls to “Fornicate with hate” for allusions to other perverse ritualistic acts.
These practices are fully encountered while hailing the “Second face under my tail” on “Baptism To Beelzebub,” and this reference to the osculum infame, a “Kissing ritual of my posteriors,” is compounded with blasphemous attacks seeking to “Burn all that’s related to Christianity.” Sexual deviance appears through “Corpse molestation” on “Perverse Lust Necrophiliac,” and “With my tongue the dead cunt I taste” strives for heightened repulsion alongside its described “Rotten body fluids.” Blasphemy and futile faith prevail, with “Useless prayers chanted” proving ineffective as “Into the furnace you’ll descend” on “Thy Lord Vrykolakas,” and this infernal imagery turns apocalyptic when “Earth turns to dust” on “Darker Than the Occult.” The “Cosmos is crushed” amid bleak visions of “Skies above clouding with disease,” and hatred for humanity rages ahead with “We wish you murder” and “Send you demons.” Those sentiments converge with total annihilation on “Nocturnal Demons of Death,” where an ultimatum offers “No forgiveness, join us in perverseness,” and such rhyming qualities are noted in other fatal inflictions here, including “You turn to dust, embraced in disgust” by a “Bludgeoner, gore drenched punisher.” Eternal condemnation finalizes this ungodly pantheon with a vehemence to draw one deeper into its depraved instrumental depths.
A steadfast devotion to the darkside is observed on The Necromantic Revocation, with its dismal and shadowy textures amplifying the fury of earlier times, and they reverberate throughout the underworld to cast ruin on our material domain. This variety of death metal, which challenges the listener to delve beneath a primitive surface before revealing its inherent complexity, tends to be my preferred breed, and a vital source of intrigue is uncovered here among the riffing myriad and rhythmic versatility, along with other malign features directed at the feeble herd. Despite representing a more primeval stage of the band’s existence, these tracks possess many compositional details that become readily apparent within this new, but still abrasive, recording, and their resummoning by an adept 2022 incarnation of VRYKOLAKAS further enhances that potency. The Necromantic Revocation offers a worthwhile venture into the history of this Singaporean death horde, and those drawn toward the harsh and hostile recesses of the genre will surely achieve rapture through its heinous mass.
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