Mobbed and despairing in state of socially engineered anhedonia the dregs of humanity are only increasing in numbers as the standard-bearers for new future lows. These scabbed-up, zombified rabble are the general subject, or, symptom(s) of greater dysfunction explored via this third full-length album from Graz, Austria-based blackened crust/grindcore quartet NEKRODEUS. Singed down to their final layer of thinnest fascia and coated in the carbonized remains of the old-new world ‘Ruaß‘ checks in with the quartet at a high point of skill and expression as they craft a mélange of blackened and extreme hardcore punk which grinds and ducks away from simpler description through a variety of niche tastes. Their reconfigured, kinda post-blackened crusted dramatism with grind gilding is a strange glom to start but a fairly natural result when given some time to sink in and sort its thread out.

Nekrodeus formed circa 2013 between folks who’d been involved in their local melodic death metal scenery since the mid-2000’s or so (re: Zodiac, Blasphemist) as they sought a different direction and configuration. The style you’ll find on their first demo and EP (‘Putrid Scent of Grave Perversion‘, 2013) was oddly non-specific in its pursuit of death metal where guttural vocals, spastic movements and sludge metal inspired forms were their starting point. They’d largely been seen as a side project from that point having taken roughly five years to manage a debut LP (‘Moloch‘, 2018) which’d been an exploration of sludgecore and deathgrind, now showing more of their hardcore punk/crust inspired hand. The band’s identity was coming together at that point, not completely all over the place but also never stuck in just one mode. The band’s second LP (‘Asbest‘, 2022) was a bigger leap made, sharper musicianship per some refined guitar techniques and amped skill from drummer Paul Färber (Karg, Ellende) who’d flexed quite a bit more the second time around.

The tone of Nekrodeus‘ discography was unusually fixated, carrying a moodiness that’d clashed with their laissez-faire approach to sub-genre fusion. The flow of those first two records felt unconditional, lacking specificity despite resembling some well-explored realms of extreme metal and hardcore punk temperament. There wasn’t any reason to head into album number three expecting more than an incidental result, something in line with a thus-far consistently escalating skill set as their overall musicianship has improved quite a bit over the last decade and their interest in post-black/atmospheric black metal temperament outmoded those sludgier, miserably plodding moves on the walk toward ‘Ruaß‘. The result here is no less come-what-may in some sense but also a bit more clearly rooted in blackened neocrust ideas overall, carrying a darker-still headiness into this next realm. That doesn’t mean that they’ve lost anything worthy explored on past releases only that it all appears in more clearly blackened amalgam wherein bits of spastic post-hardcore/mathcore, crust, and grindcore all create an estranged mosaic without too-clear a basal mode in mind.

A more dramatic hand greets us with opener “Abgrundmensch I” where spongier grooves and a ringing, manic blackened waltz creates tension until the release of the piece’s very last moment. The moment’d floated past on the first few spins of the album but that first song eventually stood out as a prime example of the strong treatment of the rhythm section on ‘Ruaß‘, buzzing bass guitar tones with depth and drums which are crisp but never overwhelmingly stated in their presence. Though crusted-out grind side of Nekrodeus finds one of its more inspired tugs on “Sarg aus Fleisch”, the piece here which ties us most clearly back in the realm of ‘Asbest‘ while moving forward is probably the wandering hand of “Frost” (which features L.G. from Ellende) as a showcase of more exaggerated grooves, tighter guitar playing and again the sharpened presence of the rhythm section. You’ll get the broader essence of the band within that song as a key point of preview.

All of that is good and well, I’m not the biggest fan of these sort of conglomerated sounds so much as the possibilities they might bring in terms of songcraft and for my own taste the album starts out kinda musty and dry in its statements ’til a bit of fire feeds the melodic hardcore/neocrust trot of “To Bite the Hand that Holds the Leash” which sounds pulled straight from a ‘Eldopp‘ era Martyrdöd in some of its motions albeit applying a bit more of a hammered attack during the ranting mid-portion of the song. From there the energy is briefly up as we hit the shouted-in hardcore punk trample of “Volkscancer” before Nekrodeus stretch the song into its skronking, grinding step as we push out of Side A (assumedly via “Abgrundmensch II”). From that point on ‘Ruaß‘ is generally hit-or-miss song over song from my point of view.

There are few things I dislike more than vocal effects applied to whispering in heavy music though I don’t mind the post-metal infused introduction to “Astraldepression” wherein the vocals variously take a death metallic turn, it ends up being one of the more inventive treatments of Nekrodeus‘ moodier spectrum. With that said the spoken sections of closer “Sternenleichen” (and the mid-point of “Trümmerjugend” for that matter) are collectively a lot to heap into the already dense activity of Side B. Without a lyric sheet/translation to cue into the subject matter these moments appealed to me least and nearly had me dropping the review process early on. What’d brought me back beyond previews was their extreme but tactful approach of hardcore punk/neocrust, in fact one of my favorite songs on the full listen would end up being “Körperstrafe” a straightforward-to-start piece that brings some classic European hardcore edge to its run through “Trümmerjugend” right after, striking a few harmonics and ringing guitar runs along the way.

The ulterior extreme touch these folks apply to punk influences would end up being the boon of this record overall, those’d been the points where their work stuck best in mind at least. I’m not sure that Nekrodeus have made me a full-fledged fan of their work within the span of the review process but I did appreciate some of the connections they’ve made on ‘Ruaß‘ per a variety of metal and punk insulated interests. What was missing per my own taste was a focus on a container (re: songcraft) for these pieces that’d tie the band’s ideas together with more purpose beyond tonal interest. While the combination of sensibilities is entertaining in its own right this work is yet an alchemic pot swirling with elemental fusion rather than a repeatable, masterful result which justify their experimentation. That said it is a novel experience which impresses via a handful of notable outbursts on the way through. A moderately high recommendation.

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