Lock Up – Necropolis Transparent

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It has been a long time. The last time Lock Up released an actual studio album, it was back in 2002. Not that the band don’t have their reasons, with an international all-star line up including UK members Shane Embury (Napalm Death) and Nick Barker (ex-Cradle of Filth/ex-Dimmu Borgir), Swede Tomas Lindberg (At The Gates – you did know this all, right?) and new guy, Chilean Anton Reisenegger (Criminal), replacing the late Jesse Pintado. With such a wealth of talent amidst its established members, and such a long wait, one might think that Necropolis Transparent would be a bit different from 2002′s Hate Breeds Suffering. Well, one would be entirely wrong – whilst other bands who have had long waits between releases might alter their sound over the break, Lock Up have stuck to their refined deathgrind sound, with barely any change over the last decade. With every other death metal band seemingly varying from their established sounds this year, this comes as quite a relief. Necropolis Transparent is loud, nasty and aggressive, a perfect example of how deathgrind should sound. There’s a strong dose of pre-Heartwork Carcass mixed in with helpings of latter-day Napalm Death and At The Gates, to form a sound that is vicious but at the same time just accessible enough for those usually put off by grindcore’s rough edges. Tomas Lindberg in particular sounds at his most vile. There’s enough passion and solid riffing to keep this album burning inside the listener for a long time, coming across as an album that just begs to have the volume turned up. Necropolis Transparent is the perfect gateway record for the grindcore genre; produced well enough to appeal to death fans, but still raw enough for fans of the underground. Either way, an excellent return.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Grind, Quick.Play Reviews, Lock Up