Decent and highly enjoyable metal release.
Nephwrack is a melodic/progressive metal band from Winchester, Hampshire. After years of honing their sound, their first album ‘The Once And Future King’ was released back in 2007 securing national radio play and extensive touring plus an appearance at Bloodstock that year. It was followed by a five track EP ‘Fall Of Empires’ in 2008. The band soon set about writing material for their follow up and in late 2011 Nephwrack released this second album.
It opens up in style with the only track to survive from the EP which is ‘Leviathan Falls’. This is a potent track full of pounding riffs and some pretty furious solos. ‘The Surge’ ‘Ravenscraig’ and ‘Faint Is The Flame’ have a very Iron Maiden sound to them. All the key elements are there, the thundering bass solos along with drums working at a frenetic pace all topped off with the high pitched speedy fret work. The title track ‘Sectariana’ starts out with recorded speech and soft notes but slowly builds to its powerful conclusion. The release is closed out by the 8 minute epic ‘The Wraith’s Progress’ which shows the band at their most progressive and is chock full of time, style and riff changes.
As metal albums go this is a good, solid release, which is even more impressive when you consider that this is an unsigned band. Fans of Iron Maiden should take a close look and listen to Nephwrack. Their style and sound is without doubt massively influenced by the veteran act. The tracks are varied in both pace and style and with more than half over 5 minutes there is plenty on offer. The production side of things has also been well managed with a clear sound which allows the band to be heard from the vocals to guitars to the rhythm section, although if there’s one small negative it’s that the mixing could have done with just a tweak to make things sound a little crisper; but this is a minor point.
In all, this is a decent and highly enjoyable metal release with a good deal to offer the cognoscenti,
Dave Scott
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