Nekonomicon are back with their first album as a full band!
The album is called “Choose Your Fighter!” and will be released on 18.01.2024.
Tracklist:
01. Approaching The Void
02. Race Of Life
03. Castlevanian Hunger
04. Fog Of War
05. Inconvenience Store
06. Artifical Insanity
07. The End Is Never The End
08. Choose Your Fighter
09. Race Of Life (The Runaway Wild Remix)
Last year, the project of mastermind Andri, who released all of the previous songs with the help of guest musicians, became a permanent formation.
In addition to Andri, Nekonomicon now consists of Anne-Line (vocals), Tobias (drums), Martin (guitar) and Alexander (bass).
Check out our interview with the band from early 2023, where they talk about the formation of the band and their goals.
Because we have been following Nekonomicon for several years now, we were able to listen to the album for you before its release.
01 Approaching The Void
The first song catapults us straight into the listening experience with a marching melody. A melodically catchy opener to the album that definitely knows how to inspire with its riffs and melodies.
Singer Anne-Line immediately proves how well her melodic voice harmonizes with the growls.
02 Race Of Life
The second song on the album immediately comes up with a real catchy tune, as we know it from the band.
The opening melody reminds me directly of “Ghost Maze Project” and definitely tempts you to get your limbs moving a little.
Definitely one of my favorites on this record.
03 Castlevanian Hunger
Song number 3 strikes a much heavier note, not least because the listener can expect some breakdowns and growls here.
Of course, the 8-bit gaming intro should not be missing here either.
Here, too, the band knows how to equip their hard passages with melodically catchy transitions through anne lines. A very good song through and through.
04 Fog Of War
Fog Of War is the fourth song on the album and represents the classic “ballad” –
even if in this case you can rather speak of a “somewhat slower” song, because this song also offers us a few growls and harder passages.
The catchy chorus rounds off this solid “middle of the album” song.
05 Inconvenience Store
Uff, the title of this song was hard to write. The intro riff could almost give us an idea that we’re going to hear some good old black metal here.
In any case, this song doesn’t cause me any inconvenience.
But let’s leave the puns aside, Anne-Line unpacks a very nice clean vocal here, which harmonizes perfectly with the permanently melodic background of the song.
The breakdown towards the end of the song brings another surprise that is well worth listening to – so pay attention at this point.
06 Artificial Insanity
The sixth song is a continuation of the song “Zombified Hyperlinks”, which you can hear on the first Nekonomicon album with Kylee Brielle.
The song starts quickly and invites you to headbang with its fast beat and growls. As the song progresses, the tempo slows down again, which gives this track a good touch
– not least because of the catchy chorus. The band also works with some breakdowns here.
07 The End Is Never The End
The song starts unexpectedly melodic and in a slow tempo. Here Anne-Line shows that she can also fill this tempo with her voice excellently.
In the middle section of the song, there is a beautifully composed part in which a background choir, drums and growls are skillfully used.
Together with “Fog Of War”, this track is one of the most leisurely on the album.
08 Choose Your Fighter!
The last song on the album is the title track “Choose your Fighter!” and gives everything once again.
Instrumentally, paired with a melodic chorus, we enter the final minutes of the album. A thoroughly worthy conclusion to the album.
A strong first longplayer for the newly formed Nekonomicon band. They remain true to their style and know how to surprise the listener here and there on this album.
Anne-Line shows what vocal power she has and the quality of the songs is great – just as you would expect from Nekonomicon.
There’s always a little room for improvement, but all in all, the band has come up with some catchy tunes. A worthy successor to the first album.
Maizter Undergrounds Rating 8/ 10
CLICK HERE TO PRE-SAVE THE ALBUM!
