Review & Full Album Stream: Necro, Adiante
Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on December 19th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
[Click play above to stream Necro’s Adiante in full. Album is out Dec. 19 as the first release from Abraxas Records.]
Almost immediately, Adiante feels like a moment of arrival. It’s the third full-length from Maceio, Brazil-based trio Necro behind 2012’s The Queen of Death and a woefully unavailable 2011 self-titled released until their original moniker of Necronomicon, as well as their first offering through the new imprint Abraxas Records, but in addition to this, it’s the three-piece’s first record entirely in Portuguese, and it would seem to solidify the approach to classic heavy rock and boogie that the prior two outings and their 2015 split with Witching Altar (review here) hinted toward.
The lineup of guitarists/vocalists/bassists Lillian Lessa and Pedro Ivo Salvador (the latter also organ) and drummer Thiago Alef come across throughout the seven-track/37-minute outing as mature and the recording, mixing and mastering job by Gabriel Zander effectively captures a live-feeling chemistry between them that only feeds into both the energy within songs like the organ-laced “Espelhos e Sombras” and the earlier slide-meets-cowbell rocking title-track themselves and the momentum they’re able to build between them. At the same time Necro don’t make a move that’s out of place either in instrumentation or in Lessa and Salvador‘s vocal arrangements — Diogo Oliveira also guests in righteous form on “Azul Profundo” and “Entropia” — neither do they come across at any point as overblown. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but likewise, their take on familiar boogie rock tenets is presented with an entirely clearheaded take, and the results should catch the ears of even those jaded with ’70s worship or who think there’s nowhere left to go with a shuffling groove but in the same circles over and again.
Necro manage to move these elements forward, and in so doing, pay off the rather considerable potential of their first two records with their third. What seems geared toward a vinyl split with three tracks on side A and four on side B kicks off with the six-minute “Orbes,” starting at a vibrant gallop of guitar that’s in motion before the song seems even to know it. The tone is full, the push comes with considerable force behind it, and the impression left by the hook is memorable even if one doesn’t happen to speak Portuguese. They shift from this propulsive proto-metal in the second half of “Orbes” to a drumless section of spacious guitar, echoing vocals and ringing organ, but soon enough swirl the opener toward its apex and finish with a flash of humor in progressive noodling before jumping headfirst into the boogie of “Adiante” itself. Already noted, the slide guitar and cowbell arrive quickly, the latter backing Lessa‘s verse, guitars stopping and starting to allow for an even more fervent groove.
An undercurrent of acoustic guitar adds a Southern (as in US) twang that Necro seem content to ride out, but they never veer far from the central motion of the title cut. This serves them well as they provide yet another look on “Azul Profundo.” A highlight of Adiante for its insistent classic prog rhythm, it moves from an initial shuffle into thicker, more driven chugging behind layered vocals — organ once again playing a major role alongside Salvador‘s shred-prone lead guitar — before culminating with a surprise return from the cowbell and a section of scat singing. One assumes that Oliveira‘s guest spot, but either way the guitar follows it point for point as the drums and bass lock in time and the keys add Deep Purple-ish depth. From there, the drums drop out as “Azul Profundo” transitions into a flowing wash of melody gradually, patiently, smoothly moving back toward its starting point; arriving at which is among Adiante‘s greatest triumphs.
Centerpiece “Viajor” recalls some of Necro‘s earlier work in its pointed ’70s verse but opens to another fervent hook which Lessa delivers with poise recalling Farida Lemouchi from The Devil’s Blood — not a comparison to be made lightly — and balances shuffle and swirl well as it goes. It and “Entropia” lead the way into side B. Both are shorter at about 4:20, and straightforward in their proggy organics compared to some of the turns made by “Azul Profundo,” but they build noteworthy momentum one into the next and continue the flow from the first half of Adiante while also seeming to find common ground between what the opening three songs were able to accomplish individually. In other words, Necro don’t wait until the next album to bring the various sides of their sound together. That locked-in feel persists into “Espelhos e Sombras,” which slows down somewhat from the preceding “Entropia” and holds back the organ to bring the guitar forward initially but finds its real impression in a midsection break peppered with slide guitar and post-King Crimson noodling that shifts almost impossibly into a layered-on guitar solo, galloping drums, and a last build that’s as odd as it is effective.
By the time they get there, Necro have made it fairly complicated to guess where they might go on five-minute closer “Deusas Suicidas,” but they cap Adiante with a suitable bookend of a riff, proto-metallic in shape but still working on a different-enough wavelength to be distinct from “Orbes” — more biker rock, less pre-thrash force. From about two minutes in, they seem set in the final movement, but there are yet twists and turns to be made, and it’s not until the third minute that the organ arrives and the real summary of the record begins as they push toward the last crescendo. They end instrumentally, and even hearken back to the playfulness that capped “Orbes” when they’re done, as if to underscore the point of the symmetry at work across Adiante. Fun, but that point is well taken anyhow, and Necro‘s cross-genre prog-boogie realizations on individual tracks are even more satisfying when the album is taken as a whole. After two strong offerings in Necronomicon and The Queen of Death, the trio take a brazen step forward with Adiante, sounding refreshed in their approach and more like themselves than ever before.
