Necrophagia- 35 Years of Death Metal

A long time favorite band of mine is Necrophagia, which initially formed in the early/mid '80s before splitting then eventually resurfacing with a new lineup in the late '90s, continuing on until the death of its founder, Killjoy, in 2018.

Set list from Necrophagia show, plus flyer and stage-used drumstick from drummer Shawn Slusarek

There are a couple of recent releases from two different labels released as tributes to the band and the memory of Killjoy.  The first is a best-of compilation and the other is a cassette release containing the band's demos from the '80s.

Best-of collections are generally a bit of a weird thing for me, personally, as they are derivative by nature.  However, they are good for people who are trying to get into the band, but don't know where to start.  I also find them good for situations where you want to listen to a specific band, but want to hear stuff from different albums, which I find does happen to me from time to time.  These also come in handy for long road trips, as I still just use CDs in the car (although I sometimes stream music from my phone, the damn thing can't hold even a quarter of my music collection, so it is a limited option).

The best-of collection is called Here Lies Necrophagia: 35 Years of Death Metal.  This release covers the albums only, not the demos.  There is at least one song from each of the band's full-length studio albums, as well as some tracks from the Black Blood Vomitorium and Cannibal Holocaust EPs.  Overall, the song selection is good, however, "best" is a very subjective thing, so there are bound to be songs that any given person would be pissed about not being included on the release.  A minor issue I have is the glaring omission of any material from the Goblins Be Thine EP.  If they had included at least just one song from that, it would have been cool, but it was ignored altogether.  Still, the songs that are on here are all damn good, in my opinion, making this a nice, long battering of Necrophagia material to enjoy.

Season of the Dead with slightly-modified-from-the-original-release cover art (left) and Here Lies Necrophagia (right)

The packaging is one of the strongest points of this release.  The cover art is paying tribute to the band's career, rather than just being some random piece of artwork.  The overall image is modeled on the cover art of the classic debut album, Season of the Dead.  From and center in the image is a zombified version of Killjoy, surrounded by other zombies, which may or may not be based on other band members, and even Coffin Joe to the right of the image.  Coffin Joe was a major influence on the band's Divine Art of Torture disc, making him a perfect choice for an appearance on the cover.  The booklet also includes the lyrics, which is unusual for a best-of release.  Most of the lyrics were included with the original releases, but a couple of these songs haven't previously had the lyrics published: "Cannibal Holocaust" and "Beast with Feral Claws".  The lyrics included for "Chainsaw Lust" are actually the lyrics to the Mayhem song, "Chainsaw Gutsfuck" which does make some sense, as this version of "Chainsaw Lust" was a tribute to Euronymous and includes part of "Chainsaw Gutsfuck", but none of the same vocals as the Mayhem song.

Then we have Power Through Darkness: the Demo Years-- a cassette-only release.  As the title states, this covers the demos the band put out.  First thing to deal with here is the sound quality.  For younger people, who are used to being able to record a proper album relatively easily at home in their own bedrooms, the sound of this release could be rather off-putting.  These are demos from the '80s.  In those days, bands had to save up money to go into a studio, usually only being able to afford just enough time to quickly bash out 3-5 songs with minimal setup for tones, etc.  Sometimes, bands would even record in a garage using a boombox or a multi-track cassette recorder, so the sound these recordings had would generally be quite raw and noisy.  Today, I can plug my guitar amp directly into my computer and record a demo on any one of many different programs and it will sound far better, typically, with little effort put into the sound.  Having said this, overall, the sound is not too bad.  Some recordings are better than others, of course, but I do find it all listenable.  Is it going to appeal to anybody who is not a big Necrophagia fan?  Not likely.  For a fan like me, it is interesting to hear the beginnings of a band.

Outer-side of card and the cassette

Power Through Darkness: The Demo Years in its red-tinted case

Inner-side of card and the cassette

This brings us to the other main issue with this release.  Much like the best-of, this is all previously-released material.  The demos were released on CD in a couple of different releases: Death is Fun (which, contrary to the title, does not include the band's Death is Fun demo) and A Legacy of Horror, Gore and Sickness (which does include the Death is Fun demo, just to be confusing).  What makes this a release worth getting, in my opinion, is the packaging and the format.  I find it rather fitting to listen to old demos such as these on cassette and the art for this one is old artwork created for the various demos, including photos.  It is different than checking this stuff out on the CD compilations of the demos, although those are good as well.

Death is Fun CD (left) and A Legacy of Horror, Gore and Sickness (right)

What it all comes down to is two cool releases that serve as a couple of nice tributes to this underappreciated band's legacy and the life of its mastermind, Killjoy.  They are not "vital" releases for casual listeners, but are definitely of interest to hardcore fans/collectors (the kind who want everything in a band's catalog).  If that is you, check these two out.