For the last decade, Denver extreme metallists Necropanther have, by all accounts, operated quite successfully as an independent act, unattached to any labels and beholden to no one but themselves. After all, they’ve managed to issue a new full-length (on average) every couple of years, including their latest (and fifth) effort, The Book of Change, which we’re previewing in its entirety here. This 10-song rager finds the outfit—Paul Anop (guitar/vocals), Marcus Corich (bass/vocals), Joe Johnson (guitar), Adam Frost (drums)—dealing blow after blow of manic, literary-inspired melodic death/black metal. The album is razor sharp from start to finish, slashing furiously like the band’s (imagined) namesake. Who needs a record label when your material is this strong and you’re willing to do the heavy lifting of promotion and marketing yourself? Definitely worth supporting, no?
The Book of Change was produced by the band. Engineering was handled by Felipe Patino at Green Door Recordings in Denver, Colorado, with mixing done at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts by Kurt Ballou. Alan Douches mastered it at West West Side Music in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. It’s set for release on CD and digitally on November 13. Place your preorder here.
Guitarist Joe Johnson describes the band’s approach on its latest:
“The Book Of Change explores this concept of metamorphosis from classic science fiction, horror and literary works, including The Tempest, The Thing, The Fly, Faust, and the video game Rampage. These works inspired us to explore something new that focused on physical transformation, evolution, body horror, and the strangeness of things that are new and unknown.”
