NECRYTIS "Countersighns" Digipak CD

Mixing traditional, power and prog metal elements, Necrytis specialise in the kind of melodic heavy metal that echoes the 80’s while still sounding resolutely modern and while COUNTERSIGhNS may be their debut album, this is a band who instinctively know how to deliver a bombastic collection of songs. Instinct should come as no surprise though as there’s serious pedigree at work here. Necrytis is the latest venture of underground shred legend Toby Knapp and those who recall Onward, his under appreciated but suitably splendid early 00’s band, will get a kick out of hearing Knapp cutting loose again with some serious power metal chops! As expected, COUNTERSIGhNS is flippin’ enormous with “Sentry’s Scream” packing the kind of chorus and vocal hooks delivered by Dio in his Rainbow days while “Dawn’s Aurora” recalls the grandeur found on Priest’s Nostradamus. Suffice to say, each track is a melodic monster. With underground shred legend Toby Knapp on board, Necrytis have a veteran of the American heavy/power metal scene leading the charge and his elaborate guitar leads, melodic structures and power-house riffs (big enough to rival anything released by Maiden, Priest and Iced Earth in recent years) drive COUNTERSIGhNS on at a tremendous pace. It’s also notable that a guitarist of Knapp’s calibre could easily spend half the album showboating and noodling his way through an hour of neo-classical shred if he wanted to. The fact he doesn’t is testament to how he services the songs and not his own ego and ensures that each track never loses focus. Fuckin’ huge anthems and fuckin’ huge performances…COUNTERSIGhNS is the sound of real METAL and it’s a debut that positively screams class in your face!