Celestially sourced spells of destruction cast from the hand of the God-killer of inflicted death, these five unreal hymns to cosmic warfare begin to define San Juan del Río, Mexico-based death metal quartet NECRONOS as notable entrant into the realm of brutal yet atmospheric craft on this debut full-length album. Brief yet unhindered by filler or waste ‘Charred Tongue‘ is an exploration as much as it is an efficiency, the hammer and the daze of its damage set upon the skull as their work sinks into the senses before committing to its mayhemic inclinations. Unreal in its heady violence yet familiar as contemporary death metal with an ‘old school’ reek to its modus these folks are onto something which achieves the unhinged hand of dark underground death in a contained form where every piece counts, every riff choice smokes, and return visits are encouraged by its overall brevity.

Necronos formed circa 2023 between guitarist/vocalist Juan Mondragón (Darkside Ritual, Muerto) and bassist Ricardo González (Stoom) intending to create a raw and chaotic form of death metal and their earliest results the single song ‘Nobul Rot‘ (2023) demo suggested their work would be teeming with doomed, cavernous yet bestial atmosphere. Expectations at that point were something along the lines of Into Coffin (Germany) and Sempiternal Dusk thanks to a distant, rehearsal spaced recording and the slow burn of that first song speaking to surreal ‘old school’ death metal. In the process of completing the lineup beyond that point second guitarist Mauricio Hernandez and drummer Iván Herrera (Summoning Death, ex-Rapture) were added and that’d been the crew responsible for ‘Charred Tongue‘, a notably different experience than the demo as the possibilities instantly expanded beyond that point.

Now echoing into the distance rather than directly from the cave mouth Necronos may kick things off slowly grinding away at two rhythm guitar threads via opener “Bone Process” but this is not a death/doom metal album per the style suggested by “Nobul Rot”, but rather one that’d explore some Krypts-esque movement here and there to help build atmospheric depth. Short, raw and verifiably underground death metal in stature ‘Charred Tongue‘ introduces itself as a miasmic being capable of eerie tension and almost atmospheric sludge levels of groaning noise beneath its chassis yet we’ll find their style is only just holding back on their blast-readied ‘old school’ death metal side per that first piece. It’d be fair to compare the overall dynamic of their compositions to that of the old standard provided by Incantation as we pass through “Cryptagathon” but the drumming is prominently set in the mix and brutal to the point that these basic references aren’t enough to describe the disarrayed tradition inherent to the band’s work.

The hammer takes its heaviest swings on “Theophagy” and the fully brutal whip of the title track (“Charred Tongue”) per a sound that recalls Denial (Mexico) and especially the second LP from Dominus Xul (Chile) where similarly volatile drumming gives way to cavernous atmosphere and clashing guitar lines. The full dynamic of the album isn’t lost here but given to one slow-blasted mode for a couple of songs which lend ‘Charred Tongue‘ its overbearing, ruthless pulse before dropping back into the ominous step of “Reap the Cosmos” to end the spin. At just ~34 minutes and five songs Necronos only just manage to complete the general shape of this release before sending it off and as such it doesn’t square up as either an outright death/doom metal album nor does it achieve the classic ‘old school’ black/death touch, or, bestial interruptus which’d threatened to define their style. As such the full listen is brief yet detailed, atmospheric and brutal, but potentially in need of further iteration or… at least one more song to fully make a best-rounded point.

Amorphous, horrified, and roaring in its surrealistic pummel ‘Charred Tongue‘ offers only its best ideas, only the ouevre and no chance to overstay their welcome within this debut statement and as such it leaves an untied knot to chase back to the start with each spin. This is hardly a complaint on my end though it feels like they’ve got longer-form songs in their wheelhouse, more possibilities to explore, and they’ve suggested this without leaning into excess -or- approachable sounds making for a quick and cryptic burst of dark energy on the full spin. The end result is an album where the riffs count, a couple of mega-bullied out hitters define their range and the overall sound design leaves something to the imagination going forward. A great place to start and not a bad place to leave the listener hanging on for more. A high recommendation.

---