Necromonkey – A Glimpse of Possible Endings (2014)

At Infernal Masquerade, we live for receiving those truly unique releases that transport the listener to other places, and Necromonkey does just that with their trippy “A Glimpse of Possible Endings”. In this 37 minute release the band delivers fixe hypnotic tracks that feature very emotive atmospheric elements and tons of cool instruments thrown into the mix. This Swedish duo will surely captivate your attention with their very original fusion of elements.

Having a super kvlt name as Necromonkey, we thought this band was going to be an Experimental Black Metal outfit, but we were gladly surprised that this release has a lot more depth than that. Opening with a very playful “There Seem to be Knifestains in your Blood”, the band immediately sets a very unique tempo sort of Trip-hop is with string instruments and eerie Theremin sections. It is quite cool that the band listed the instruments used per track in the liner notes of this slipcase release.

Things get a bit more Post-Rockish with the super mellow “The Sheltering Waters”. Slowly building up, this song brings God Is An Astronaut level of atmospheric despair, and the use of a spoon at some point. Probably the most ‘straightforward’ track in this release is the very melodramatic “The Counterfeit Pedestrian”, only featuring three instruments and a bone-chilling grand piano that perfectly continues the mood of such a delicate release.

As a centerpiece we have “(A) Glimpse (Of Possible Endings)” clocking in at 15 minutes, and the Necromonkey goes all out using all kinds of instruments like xylophones, mellotron, a vocoder, and many more. The end result is a very hypnotic song that is as weird as it is awesome, nicely and very elegantly smoothing out in a jazzy/psychedelic grandiose way. This son is by far our favorite piece in this release.

Leaving us with the super ethereal “The Worst Is Behind Us”, Necromonkey has managed to truly intoxicate us with their excellent music. All the instruments work magically together and create a unique aural experience that we have been missing in quite a while. Very hard to peg the band’s style down, all their influences are very evident and yet they allow them to sound completely unique and out of this world.

Label: Roth Händle Recordings

Release: 2014

Genre: Atmospheric/Experimental/Post-Rock

Country: Sweden