Snorlax - The Necrotrophic Abyss

Angry Metal Guy

As much as I like extreme metal and as much as I’m fascinated by necrotrophs – parasites that kill their hosts to feed on their dying matter – the only reason I picked out The Necrotrophic Abyss by Snorlax is my love for Pokémon. As best I can ascertain, Snorlax has no relevance to the fat, sleeping bastard that gamers know and love, especially given Necrotrophic’s apparent and bleak concept of planetary destruction and undead survival. I’m left confused as to whether Brendan Auld, the Australian machine powering this project, had simply never encountered the most valuable media franchise in history, or whether he simply didn’t care. Whatever the case, I hoped to be body-slammed by the album, rather than left snoring.

Necrotrophic broadly fights under the blackened death metal banner, levering a little more black than death. It blends whirling blackened barrages (the introductions on “Reawaken” and “The Bastard Seed ov Terraformation”), contrasting passages of discordance with marginally-more accessible melodies (“The Repudiation ov Disharmony”) and chunkier, rhythmic death metal licks (“Book of Serpents” and the title track). This is capped with particularly strong vocals, merging thunderous growls with pained shrieks as appropriate. I also detect the speed and intense attitude of grind, though not the sound. Finally, the production wraps these elements into an unsettling package; it doesn’t boast the most dynamic master but it has a nasty tone that’s appropriately unsettling, and its mix is squashed but suffocating. All these musical tools are bent into a heavy, dense, alienating sort of music. I have a small knot in my stomach as Necrotrophic proceeds, such is the unease it generates. It’s not an easy listen and it’s not intended to be.

The Necrotrophic Abyss by Snorlax

The upside of uneasy listening is I tend to focus on all instruments as none offer an easy melodic hook. Each is busy and offers an intriguing listen if you choose to focus at any given moment. The drumming is surprisingly cool, with varied fills and a dictatorial style over the record’s pace. And how the compositions draw everything together makes for a deep and detailed mass of music. The depth will reward perseverant listeners as cool transitions, fragments of dynamism and subtle melodies will surface. In this way, I’m impressed by Auld’s experimental flair and deft songwriting touch which permeate the music despite its heaviness. It’s all the more impressive that such depth is conveyed through songs that average just 3.5 minutes over a record that runs for less than half an hour. I’ll always endorse music that experiments with more than just length.

The downside of uneasy listening is that Necrotrophic offers an impenetrable and forgettably unmelodic listening experience. No doubt this is deliberate, but it’s a more interesting listen than it is an enjoyable one. Its warped and quasi-experimental approach is reliably puzzling but not compulsive. Only a handful of particular riffs stand out, and considering that Snorlax stuffs the record full of them, this indicates a lack of memorability. Moreover, the further the album progresses the less I find to appreciate. It becomes tiresome, whether resulting from its alienating style or limited master, and it lacks the splashes of energy, variety or riffs that elevate the best avant-garde or dissonant releases. I remember Necrotrophic and its impact overall, but I don’t remember particular tracks especially well.

I’m questioning whether I like the latest Snorlax release. It’s powerfully unsettling and compositionally intricate but I’m not particularly compelled to return. Much can be said about the superior instrumentation and production but also its tiring nature. I admire many aspects but can’t confess to enjoying them. Necrotrophic may indeed hold more for those that devour dissonant approaches to death and black metal but for everyone else, it isn’t essential. It doesn’t have the necessary sticking power I require.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Avantgarde Music
Website: snorlax.bandcamp.com
Releases worldwide: June 23rd, 2023

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