Track Premiere: Hannes Grossmann – “Engraved In Their Shrouds”
Ed. note: this album has one of the shittiest uses of AI-generated art that I’ve seen on a cover yet. Despite this, after some deliberation, we’ve decided to leave this article up; at the time of this writing, it has been a month since it went live, and the damage has been done. We will ensure to the best of our abilities that, in accordance with our site ethos, we do not run coverage of albums that have utilized generative AI in any aspect of their creation. -Spear
New Necrophagist?! No…but also YES!
Okay. I know I’m not the only one who has been waiting over a decade for a new Necrophagist album to drop. In fact, March of this year will make two decades. 20 flippin’ years! I’ve heard all the rumors. Seen all the memes. My favorite one is the picture that says, “Necrophagist in the studio”, titled over a decaying skeleton on top of a mixing board. The other day my friend told me that the band actually recorded an entire record, but Muhammed Suiçmez wasn’t happy with everything so it just never got released. I don’t know if that’s true, but can you imagine the stress of having those masters and not being able to release them?!
More to the point, how has it NOT been leaked in a world where everything gets pirated online? These are questions that need answers! Then again, I suppose there are some things mankind just isn’t meant to know. Like, what happens after we die? Or more importantly, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop? That lying owl says three, but we all know he just got impatient and took a bite while simultaneously stealing that kid’s only piece of candy. I’d tell you not to trust owls in general, but I’ll keep things civil for now. Roldy, I can literally feel you glaring at me. To quote Bart Simpson, “Cool your jets, man!”
With that out of the way, I now introduce the new track by Hannes Grossmann. For those unfamiliar, he played drums on the Necrophagist record Epitaph. And before anyone blows up at me for that total teaser of an intro. This isn’t just some random side project unrelated to the aforementioned band. It’s an intentional homage to that style. In his own words:
“It’s been 20 years since I recorded “Epitaph” with Necrophagist, an album that was not only very influential in death metal, but also the beginning of my career. To honour this occasion I will now release an EP with three songs in the style of Necrophagist. There is also a song I wrote for Blotted Science and one that could have been on Obscura “Omnivium” – an album I mainly composed. Overall, this new album is a nice overview of my work as a tech death composer and drummer. I’m particularly proud of the production, which I did entirely myself. I hope this EP will finally put an end to the constant questions about the new Necrophagist album, haha. If you want a new album, then write it yourself. That’s what I did!”
So there you have it. I don’t think offering my opinion here will greatly sway anyone. After all, this isn’t a review and most of us have ears. Shit rips and delivers on all fronts. Obviously the drums are good, but did ya’ll hear those bass lines? SHEW! Highly recommend heading on over to Hannes Grossmann’s Bandcamp for another preview track before the whole album drops February 9, 2024.
