Fittingly titled Awakening Those Oppressed, NECROPHILE’s first full-length is a literal blast from the past, like the hypothetical album that could’ve followed that cult split LP with Abhorer. From throttling deathrash to quick ‘n’ concise grindcore, with plenty of filthy headbanging in between, Awakening Those Oppressed possesses the immediately ingraining charm that recalls more innocent times: death metal’s earliest, fledgling years, where subgenre splintering had yet to happen, where bands could plow through a whole range of motions so long as they were dark and, above all, DEATHLY. And that’s exactly what NECROPHILE’s debut LP is – and it keeps on raging forward, each minute as explosive and exciting as the last. Across ten tracks in 34 minutes, these veterans play with the intensity and enthusiasm of bands half their age. It’s not so much a “blast from the past,” then, as the past never having stopped: NECROPHILE are eternal, and they’re Awakening Those Oppressed!