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Germany's Necronomicon has been around nearly 40 years and 2023's Constant to Death is their eleventh full-length album. I was underwhelmed when I reviewed their Invictus album back in 2012 and I think Constant to Death is the first album of theirs I have received for review since. I can't speak for the albums in between (you can check out Luxi's reviews for that), but I think Constant to Death is a huge step up from Invictus. The production is still crisp but this time around the guitars retain much of their bite and the vocals have some actual bile in their delivery. I've seen Necronomicon lumped in with other German thrash bands, but the combination of speed and aggressive crunch on Constant to Death sounds more power/thrash to me. In addition to the usual suspects like Kreator and Sodom, I hear a cleaner, tighter streak in Necronomicon's playing and songwriting. The slow burn and vocal sneer on "Constant to Death" reminds me of early Reverend and the drum fill on "The Guilty Shepherd" sounds a lot like the one from Metallica's "One." There are no revelatory tracks on Constant to Death, but it sounds so much meaner and frankly badass than I remember this band sounding, I find it very enjoyable regardless. Grab a copy and slot it in between Countdown to Extinction and Digital Dictator.