Necrophagia
Through the Eyes of the Undead Uncut (Season of Mist)
by Scott Hefflon
Long have I heard the “banned in 22 countries” hype, but until now, I’d never actually seen anything by the legendary Necrophagia, and I’m kinda deep into underground metal and splatter flicks. For those not baptized in blood, Necrophagia is Phil Anselmo on guitar (singer of Pantera, Down, and Superjoint Ritual) and Killjoy on vocals (who reportedly gave up the band for dead – the band he formed in 1985 and is considered by some to be one of the forefathers of death metal – when black metal pioneer, Euronymous was murdered) and a couple other big scary metal dudes, the kinda hillbilly small-animal killers who are the true Black Circle Boys, the metal guys your parents warned you about.
Through the Eyes of the Undead begins with the five videos which liberally mix horror movie footage (classic ’70s splatter, only about a third of which I’ve ever seen, but they’re the images that stay with you forever) and live footage in the rehearsal room (castle set and smoke included) of our boys shaking their shaggy, greasy hair. The video footage, like all good splatter flicks, contains ample nudity and gore… Uh, serious nudity and gore. So before you go thinking “oh, titties,” let’s just say that a huge, bald biker dude flaying a girl’s face, cutting off her boobs, dancing around with her dead body as her arms flop around, then jerking off with a bloody hand onto her corpse and burying her is a long way to go to see a little quim. A “nun” taking part in a Satanic ritual (green-faced zombie lesbo action, anyone?), complete with bouncing boobs and a fake bush (yeah, like who keeps a ‘fro like that anymore?), sure, that’s quality entertainment, but the first video, man, that shit weirded me out…
Oh, the music… Yeah, it’s big and scary, mostly plodding and roaring, with plenty of horror movie samples and screaming to set the mood. There are few double-time racing parts, but mostly slow monster mosh paces, riffs advancing on you, slow and steady as the undead.
Bonus material includes interviews, some rehearsal footage, a gore photo gallery, a bad trip segment called the “Manson Meditation Tape,” a song called “They Dwell Beneath,” and one called “Cannibal Holocaust” which has a whole lotta footage from that film, one which some claim The Blair Witch Project totally ripped off. Uh, I don’t recall naked savages graphically raping, impaling, and eating tourists in Blair Witch, but if Phil says so, there must be some truth to it…
(www.season-of-mist.com)
