Hypnotized in their descent into the underworld while questing for unimaginable sonic decay San José, Costa Rica-based death metal quartet NECROFERUM present the all-horror, a clarion call to the window they’ve burnt into the realm for all to see with this doomed and heavily atmospheric debut EP. Black-eyed and spitting from daemonic tongue ‘Visions From the Necrorealm‘ offers its portal to subterranean revelation within the space of about ~24 minutes, unveiling the necrotic senses of the listener with fleet movements, bursts of brutality and an all-encompassing veil of death magick energy lifted by way of hypnotic resound. For the sepulchral death and doomed atmospheric ear it’ll be a devourer and by my own measure one of the finer EP releases of the year.

Necroferum formed circa 2023 by way of guitarist Juan Salas and guitarist/vocalist Justin Sánchez (both key members of Mortual) in search of greater morbid dominion, something heavier and darker in its pulverizing movements. Onboarding drummer Juan José Fernandez and bassist Kevin Venegas (Carved Memories) to the group bloomed that initial idea into cavernous, doomed, but equally volatile riff-obsessed craft. In this sense we can meaningfully label their work as death/doom metal which is adjacent to the Incantation-esque spectrum of things with a certain rhythmic drift (a la Krypts and Disma) which includes a willingness to lean into funeral doom metal atmosphere which fans of the more frenetic shifts of Disembowelment should appreciate.

That isn’t to say they’re not chopping it up, snapping out tightly whipped old school death metal riffs throughout this ~24 minute EP but rather that the atmosphere of ‘Visions of the Necrorealm‘ weighs in first and makes sure you’re seeing the damned Necrorealm before Necroferum insert quake and tumult into their vision. The title track (“Visions From the Necrorealm”) builds this nether realm empire with a simple ringing death-doom metal riff to start, oozing its steadied reveal and building a case for tension before their core juxtaposition between blood-boiling death/doom meter and hammered down death fully arrives. By slowly walking through those first several minutes and taking that first funereal turn ~2:30 minutes in they’ve set the scene and spoken directly to the ear in the way I suppose a band like Spectral Voice had on their better known demo tape. When the punchier, grinding hits arrive ~3:31 minutes in there we begin to get more of what’s to come in slowly reveal hint. We’re already hitting upon elite death/doom metal territory well before this opening fanfare has run its course and this’d been enough to catch my full attention from the first listen.

The first strike of true death in ripping and blasting furor comes with “Transcending From Spectral Fumes” of course the opening riff could’ve worked on a Mortual record, too, but feels all the more a thrill when set within this cavernous and volatile headspace as more than an ‘Onward to Golgotha‘-esque strike. If riffs count for you, and they should, right there the striking left-hand scrawl of the guitarists should impress. They’re not just mining classic death metal with appropriate ferocity but generating a thread which is ominous and volatile on an outrageous level yet still easily transitions to quieter realms within a moment. Even within this ~7.5 minute song it feels like the broader strokes given to death’s furor and doom’s patience could go on extending to the ten minute mark but I appreciate how they’ve allowed just a couple of hills and valleys to get their point across; Here I’d also say the pairing of guttural vocals with different levels of roar make for an imposing presence as things spark up to a more determined level. Having those various vocal registers available helps Necroferum stand out and I believe at least two or three of these folks contribute lines on this song if not others.

Past the point of induction we find the knack and mastery of this configuration beginning to form in real time. The chord strum-and-weave on the bass guitar during the mid-portion of “Profound Illusions of a Pathological Subconscious” and its otherwise elastic classic death metal groove offer some of my favorite details on the record, pointing to the level of care they’ve worked into each song. This ultimately helps build the argument that there are bits and pieces you’ll likely pick up on through successive passes through, that there are some legs to these four songs beyond a first impression. This isn’t a hasty, quickly punched out death metal record but one given some serious rhythmic and atmospheric craft at the very least. I’d found myself returning to this song several times and singling it out for the subtle keys/synth (see also: “Malignant Echoes of Non-Existence”) and sense of movement as it’d felt like an especially profound plateau presented within their compositions at that point in the full listen. Again, they don’t need to write longer songs at all, and I appreciate the succinct nature of their song structures, but it’d felt like each of these could go on for minutes longer and still hold my interest.

There are otherwise many incredible points of chasmic cracking-wide that happen along the way but the grand finale of “Malignant Echoes of Non-Existence”, where the piece implodes into a funeral death/doom metal break nearby the endpoint (~4:48 mins.) is unforgettably placed just as the band has finished leaving their dent in mind. This was not only peak immersion but the perfect point to break off and admire what a solid induction and generally on-fire presentation it’d been as a first impression. It isn’t all that often that a band in this style arrives without warning and fleshes out their work off the bat, where their sound and presentation is ready to be taken seriously up front and that’d been the feeling I’d gotten right away with Necroferum. As such this is one of the most impressive EP releases of 2024, not only as a fine introduction to their whole deal but for the sake of feeling all of the work they’ve put into the atmosphere and the violence of it all. A high recommendation.

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