NECRO „The Circle of Tyrants”

Music: Death Metal/Rap
Country: USA
Web Site: necrohiphop.com
Cool Songs: Necrotura, South of Heaven, The Ultimate Revenge

The music type is not an error; Necro is a rap artist. Necro is a rap artist for metal fans, though. This white rapper used to play in a Death Metal band. If you hadn’t noticed by the album title (CELTIC FROST song), he likes metal, which is also evident in song titles like “South of Heaven,” “The Four Horsemen,” “Necrotura,” and “Fender Rhodes Suicide.” He raps about metal bands. Most of all he features guest metal musicians on his albums.

Necro’s last album “The Pre-fix for Death” had guest appearances by legendary musicians such as Jamey Jasta (HATEBREED), Dan Lilker (NUCLEAR ASSAULT, S.O.D. RAVENOUS), OBITUARY’s Tardy brothers, and Away from VOIVOD. “Circle of the Tyrants” features Igor Cavalera (SEPULTURA), Alex Skolnick (ex-TESTAMENT), Vinny Appice (DIO/BLACK SABBATH), and Matt Harvey (EXHUMED). “Necrotura” shows Alex Skolnick putting on a guitar clinic with shredding leads and OBITUARY-style down tuned, doomy, Death Metal riffing. Matt Harvey plays a fat bass groove, while Cavalera provides the beat for Necro to rhyme about his favorite metal acts. After Necro and his Circle of Tyrants (Ill Bill, Goretex, and Mr. Hyde) complete their psychotic rhymes, Harvey bellows out beastly death growls. “The Ultimate Revenge” shows Skolnick playing more raw Death Metal with a rolling chug that sounds like it came from the guitar of Trey Agazoth.

Although the majority of “Circle of Tyrants” is rap, Necro raps on subjects of interest to metal fans, most notably Death Metal fans. One could tell by his lyrical matter that he used to play in a Death Metal band. Some of his topics include Satan, horror films, serial killers, ogreish.com, creative ways to kill, and the praising of Metal gods. Necro doesn’t pose, either, he shows his knowledge of the macabre by alluding to some of history’s most notorious serial killers such as Albert Fish, Richard Ramirez, Charles Manson, and Andrei Chikatilo. The shout outs he gives to metal shows he isn’t a jump around, nu-metal wigger, poser. On “The Ultimate Revenge,” he proves he is a hardcore, old school metal fan with rhymes like, “Trying to catch the same essence when I play live, VENOM, SLAYER, EXODUS—“Ultimate Revenge”—1985…Classic like Combat Records.”
Another great rhyme comes in “Necrotura,” “Rockin’ like Dickinson on Trooper, send out my corpse paint demons to get you—Diamond, Simmons, and Cooper.”

The blending of rap and metal is not a novel concept, but the combination of psychotic rap and extreme metal has never been done before Necro or done to the degree to which he does it. Many readers will probably never pick up “Circle of the Tyrants” for the sole reason that it is a rap album, and may feel it does not even belong on this web site. I used to believe the same (you could count the number of rap albums I have on one hand) until I opened my mind and gave his music a chance. His rhymes are as demented as any Death Metal song, and his subject matter suits the tastes of most metal heads. If you don’t believe he is revered in the metal scene, go to VOIVOD’s Myspace page and see who they have in their top friend’s list.

note: 8.5/10

Tracklist

1. Chosen Few
2. Theatre of Creeps
3. Carnivores
4. South of Heaven
5. Tyrannical
6. Four Horsemen
7. Take It in Blood
8. Necrotura – Igor Cavalera, The Circle of Tyrants, Matt Harvey, Alex Skolnick
9. Ultimate Revenge – Vinny Appice, The Circle of Tyrants, Alex Skolnick
10. Severed Organs
11. Joe Spinell
12. Fender Rhodes Suicide
13. Black Wings of Apocalypse

Line-up

Necro, Ill Bill, Goretek, Mr. Hyde,

Guest Musicians:
Alex Skolnick, Vinny Appice, Matt Harvey, Igor Cavalera