Necro – “The Notorious Goriest” (Album Review)
Necro is a legendary rapper & producer from Brooklyn, New York who started out playing in a death metal band called Injustice in 1987 with his older brother. He’s made quite the name for himself in the underground for the past 2 decades plus especially with cult classics like Gory Days, The Pre-Fix for Death, the self-titled Circle of Tyrants album. Necro on the other hand garnered a cult following many artists dream about being consistent with his music and productions with his 2010 album Die!, his Murder Murder Kill Kill EP, a handful of hit singles leading up to his 2018 release like “Take Hip Hop Back” which dropped in 2015 with Immortal Tech and Vinnie Paz, a dream Hip Hop collab in many regards, & a criminally underrated slept-on collab with the legendary Kool G Rap under the name The Godfathers. Ending 2018 with “The Notorious Goriest”, Necro is once again, at no surprise, making his impact for the hardcore Hip Hop fans with his 7th full-length album, another classic in his catalog of classics.
After the intro, we go into the first song “Murder Obscene”. Here, Necro spits his signature death bars over a gloomy boom bap beat. After the “H.N.A. (Head Neck Apartheid)” prelude, we go into the actual song with the same name. Where Necro spits more clever murder bars over a spacious boom bap beat. The track “My Precious” brags about his rapping skills over an ominous instrumental with a killer guitar riff during the hook while the song “Know Con-Science” returns to the witty yet filthy lyricism over a boom bap beat with a sinister piano lead. After the “W.T.W.C.T. (What’s This World Coming To?)” prelude, we go into the actual song with the same name. The hook is kinda annoying, but the soul sample is a nice touch & Necro’s confrontational lyricism suits it pretty well.
The track “Deaded” compares himself to Michael Myers over a boom bap beat with some sinister strings while the song “Caught Up!” talks about how violent he is over a punchy beat with some Halloween-esque bells. “The Love & Terror Cult” tells his competition to step back over a boom bap beat with some somber piano chords while the song “Party Killer” gets raunchy over an electro instrumental. The title track cleverly describes his disgusting antics over an eerie beat while the song “Gat O’ 9 Tales” is filled with battle bars over an instrumental with a prominent piano lead & a beautiful soul sample during the hook.
After the prelude to “The Master of Ruckus”, we go into the actual song with the same name. Here, Necro talks about killing you when you’re sleeping over a boom bap beat with a funky bass-line. The track “Grave Ol World” goes back to the raunchiness over a symphonic beat while “The Stories of the Almost Dead” vividly describes the protagonist’s life of crime over another boom bap beat with a piano lead & soul sample for the hook. And before things end off with the outro, the final song “The Dawn of a Dead Day” goes back to taking aim at his competition over a beat inspired by a blaxpoitation film.
Comparing this project to his catalog of classics, this is a strong comeback for him, especially in 2018 when Trap music and one-hit wonders are polluting the culture many dope artists strive to preserve. Despite the lack of features, Necro continues to prove that he’s one of the best producers that the underground has to offer with soundscapes on here being darker than ever & holding the crown as the King of Death Rap with lyricism being as creative as it’s been in the past.
Score: 8/10
