Artist: Necrohammer
Country: Mexico
Label: Wolfkult Religion
Formats: Cassette tape
Year: 2025
What there to say about Necrohammer than hasn’t already been mentioned by FelixS in his reviews of ‘Unholy Black Steel’ and ‘Ancient Metal Holocaust’? Uptempo Black Metal from Mexico, heavily inspired by Hellhammer, Sarcófago, Venom, Motörhead, Sodom, Bathory and Sadistik Exekution. Growling reverbed vocals with the occasional falsetto, a solid tinge of NWOBHM and Speed Metal, all molded in an extremely authentic 80’s sound. That’s about as conclusive as it gets.
‘Unholy Ancient Black Steel’ is the unison of these two aforementioned demo releases, placed together onto one cassette tape by Wolfkult Religion. Apart from these demos, there are three additional tracks that are placed between the two demos. And it turns out that these are a perfect link between both demos. That link is not so much required musically, as Necrohammer has stuck tight to their musical formula. But the production of both demos was quite different, with the 2024 released ‘Ancient Metal Holocaust’ sporting a more rehearsal like sound while the 2022 demo ‘Unholy Black Steel’ sounded a bit more cleaner in a typical 80’s style.
Thus, transitioning from the older demo, the first of the new songs ‘Aberrant Premonitions Of Armageddon Through A Vision Of Darkness’ fits seamlessly production wise with ‘Unholy Black Steel’. It has the same sound, but is perhaps slightly more midtempo musically, focused around a typical Hellhammer-esque riff. The sound on ‘War (Prelude To Death)’ is fairly similar, and the song appears to be an older version of the track ‘War’ that appeared on ‘Ancient Metal Holocaust’. This is the first song to sport more rasping vocals that also appeared more dominantly on that later demo. The final new track is ‘Exorcism’, which is a step in a rawer direction sound wise, creeping closer to the rehearsal like sound of ‘Ancient Metal Holocaust’, and a logical connection to the songs of that demo that finish off the compilation.
I guess there was still plenty to say about Necrohammer. This is a great collection of genuine and authentic 80’s inspired Black Metal. If you’re equally enamored by that sound, then make sure to give ‘Unholy Ancient Black Steel’ a shot.
