by Loucifer

Created on: May 29, 2007   Last Updated: May 30, 2007

I'm going to guess that almost no-one here has heard of Nephwrack - in which case, if you are a metal fan, you are most definitely missing out.

I first found out about in mid 2006 when I found out that they were to be playing at Bloodstock Open Air (a festival in Derbyshire, England) and I decided to check them out. At this time their overall sound and line-up was completely different to the band that I'm going to review here. Anyway, this older version of the band caught my attention enough for me to keep in touch with them after the festival. Once the line-up had changed, and the new sound decided upon, this is what they created... "The Once And Future King"...

War strong clean vocals black metally vocals guitar solos and melodies that, when twinned with poignant lyrics, make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. This is "The Once And Future King". This is the new sound of Nephwrack.

I don't know what I was expecting when Nephwrack said they were going to release an album. I knew it would be different to the EP I just didn't realise how different! Even the few Nephwrack gigs that I've attended didn't really prepare me for it ("Leviathan Rising" seems completely different to how I remember it!) and so, when I popped the disk into the CD player I was surprised. Surprised in a very good way.

"The Once And Future King" is produced to a very high professional standard. This means that you can enjoy each track in it's full glory rather than wondering what it could be like if only the production was that little bit better.

The album starts off with "Legion" which is, in this reviewer's opinion, the weakest track on the album. Perhaps this is just a question of personal taste, but I would not have opened with this one. Fortunately, this is the only track that lets the album down.
The highlights for me are "Blacks The Sky", "Underclass", "Fall Of Empires", "By The Light" and the magnificent "Leviathan Rising". Special mentions need to go to "Teargas" and "Cold Skin" for providing the aforementioned hairs-on-the-back-of-neck moments. The moment just before and during the guitar solo in "Teargas" is one and the part (and just after the part) when Christian sings "And we are tired, and lulled to sleep by the death outside our door" in "Cold Skin" is another.

As a listener (and, OK, I admit it a fan), I couldn't have hoped for more from a debut. So, why am I giving it an 8 out of 10? Why not the full 10? I'm doing this because I know this isn't the best the Nephwrack can do I know that whatever they do next will eclipse this completely. With that said, you still need to buy this album get yourself a slice of history in the making.

8/10... OK, maybe 9/10....

If this band sounds like your kind of thing, then it's well worth checking them out! Just put Nephwrack in a search engine and I'm sure they'll pop up!

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