Necromonkey – Show Me Where It Hertz (2015)

Necromonkey are Mattias Olsson (ex-Änglagård), David Lundberg (Gösta Berlings Saga) and additional musician on this album is Kristian Holmgren. Show Me Where It Hertz is their 3^rd studio album. First thing that I would like to say about this album is that I really love the title and the ‘pun’ with ‘Hertz’. The album cover is also amazing, I really love the artwork (maybe it’s because it reminds me of the pictures I had in my study books when I studied microbiology). I think the artwork would  even look better on a big vinyl sleeve.  If they have the chance to release this album on vinyl I will put the sleeve in a picture frame and hang it on the wall.

I heard some tracks of the album on a radio show called Prog Rock Deep Cuts with Ian Beabout. Ian had the honour to interview Mattias and to play some tracks before the official release. I really loved what I heard so I couldn’t wait to have the original album in my hands.

The music on this Necromonkey album is different from the regular music they make. There’s a card in the album sleeve that tells the story about the making of this album. I’m not going to tell the whole story just to make you, the reader of this review, extra curious about the album. What I can tell is that the band played in a club and instead of using drums, Fender Rhodes and bass they used drum machines and synthesizers. Not much later they recorded this album using a variety of different synths and other instruments. The inner sleeve tells which instruments are used during which track. That is a very great feature, not many bands/artists make a list of which instrument(s) they use while making a track. Unfortunately my personal knowledge is too insufficient to hear exactly which instruments/machines and equipment is used during which parts of the track.

The first track Entering The Sublevels Of Necroplex is also the longest track on the album. It’s a very good track, it builds up very slowly with a fade in an a minimal amount of sounds, and later on more and more sounds and instruments are used, bringing it to an epic peak after 6,5 minutes, and it even gets better and better. After 8,5 minutes the theme changes a bit and turns into an awesome outro of the song. I can understand that some people will think that it’s long-winded at some moments, but I think it’s great. The second track Everybody Likes Hornets But Nobody Likes Hornet Egg (Yes, that’s the name of the track. They are very creative) is the shortest track on the album (Well, it still lasts 5 minutes, so it isn’t very short at all). It’s also a track that is built up slowly and gets filled up with more sounds and instruments. The outro has its own ‘up building’ end. The third track The Rage Within The Clouds is just beautiful. It’s bombastic, it’s haunting. When you think the track is over after 8,5 minutes you get a small extra surprise. The fourth track The Electric Rectum Electoral (Please, can someone give those guys a medal for their track names) starts with different drum machines. It contains peaceful intermediate pieces. Fifth track Like Fun You Are starts very lurid (in a good way) and haunting and the mellotron cello makes it extra spectral. It gets spookier towards the end, so this would be great for spooky movies. The sixth and last track The Current Beneath The Squarewave is a great track to end the album with. I really like the heavy undertones that start almost halfway through the track.

The album is around 46 minutes long and that’s a very nice length, not too long, not too short, just perfect.

This album will be in my top 5 albums of 2015 because I love it! The music gives me goosebumps. Too bad that there are so many great albums released this year already, because they deserve place number 1 in my opinion. It’s a real masterpiece. I’m sure this album will be played a lot when I have time to listen to music I already own. I secretly wish they will make more like this kind of music. If you like Electronic Music, Krautrock, Psychedelic and and a lot of keyboards, synthesizers and drum machines, then this album should really be in your collection… And, if I need to be honest, every Necromonkey album should be in your collection! Those guys are very gifted musicians. I give this album 5 out of 5 stars!

***** Iris Hidding

1. Entering The Sublevels Of Necroplex (10:54)
2. Everybody Likes Hornets But Nobody Likes Hornet Egg (4:59)
3. The Rage Within The Clouds (10:29)
4. The Electric Rectum Electoral (6:26)
5. Like Fun You Are (6:54)
6. The Current Beneath The Squarewave (5:56)

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My review on Background Magazine:

http://www.backgroundmagazine.nl/CDreviews/NecromonkeyShowMeWhereItHertz.html

You can listen to some tracks of Necromonkey here: