The debut album from Denmark’s Neckbreakker is a deathcore album. Unless you’re the boss, that may be a dirty word. I haven’t found much to like in what is inconceivably still the “it” genre. Don’t get me wrong, though. This is not THAT kind of deathcore. This is death metal with a heavy emphasis on the “death,” and a small emphasis on the “core” parts, but they exist. Think Tombstoner and you’re in the right realm.

After hearing the beginning of “Horizon of Spikes,” the opener, you might call me an idiot. While that’s true, stick with me. It’s visceral and straightforward. You may notice hardcore influence in the vocals of Christoffer Kofoed. His delivery is confident, forceful, and intelligible. Maybe the breakdown at the end will bring home my point.

What gives me metalcore vibes is the production. It’s not bad by any means, but I could certainly use more CHONK and heft. Tracks such as “Shackled to a Corpse” aren’t too far from being massive. Luckily, this minor gripe doesn’t take too much away from the overall impact. When there’s a massive breakdown such as the one with twenty seconds left, the song is still worth every single moment.

As far as the rest of the album, 46 minutes go by quickly and smoothly. “SILO,” the second to last track, is furious and unrelenting. At nearly 3 minutes, there’s what briefly sounds like a thrash breakdown, which leads into an instrumental section. Stops and starts coupled with pinch harmonics permeate it. A brief vocal passage momentarily breaks it up, but the last 3 minutes are essentially vocal-free.

Up next, there’s no room for lengthy experimentation on the final track, “Face Splitting Madness.” It’s straight for the throat, just as expected. Around 3 minutes, some deeper vocals come in, there’s a bit of a pause, and one can feel the breakdown coming. It doesn’t. There’s a tease of some atmospherics, then back to the pummeling. The last minute brings some but keeps it simple.

Dear reader, have you ever enjoyed an album to such a great deal that you feel like you’ve had it forever? In this case, I have had the album for over a month, yet it feels longer. Long enough that I forgot I had a review of it to knock out. Since it was released at the end of the year, its presence on lists may not be a foregone conclusion. That’s a shame, because it’s quite an album, and I feel it will be on some of 2024’s “what I missed” rankings.

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