Neckbreakker Within the Viscera

Neckbreakker have an interesting backstory. The Danish death metal outfit formed in 2020 as Nakkeknaekker—they changed their name to the English equivalent earlier this year—when they were teenagers, and they quickly built a following based entirely on their live show. After gaining enough buzz from playing Bloodstock Open Air, Hellfest, and Roskilde Festival, the quintet—vocalist Christoffer Kofoed, guitarists Joakim Kaspersen and Johan Lundvig, bassist Sebastian Knoblauch, and drummer Anton “Hajn” Bregendorf—were picked up by Nuclear Blast without a single official release to their name.

It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that their excellent debut, Within the Viscera, proves that the hype that got them signed was warranted. Despite the band’s youth, they write and play beyond their years, both in terms of ability and taste. As such, Neckbreakker’s sound is rooted in OSDM’s golden years. Specifically, Within the Viscera sounds like what happens when you study the David Vincent era of Morbid Angel—i.e., when they were making essential music—and then decide you wanna do that while combining it with Cannibal Corpse’s bulldozer-intensity and adding some modernity via clear production and a sprinkle or two of deathcore. The songs themselves are tidily written and arranged, allowing them to feel like they’re sprinting along even as the average length is five minutes ’n change.

Kofoed’s unhinged vocals, meanwhile, often sound like the middle ground between Vincent and The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk, and Kofoed is kinda-sorta intelligible as a result. It’s a smart choice because the record’s lyricism is better than it needs to be. Naturally, the band borrows from the aforementioned death metal institutions in their writing, too. Some topics are pure Cannibal, nailing their tone all the way down to the titles: “SILO” is about falling through the roof of the titular building and dying by yourself (“My blood, my vomit stains the grain / My screams echo off the walls of the silo”), while “Face-Splitting Madness” gets in the mind of a psycho killer who prefers an axe (“Feel the metal blade crushing your skull / It takes one swing; this axe is never dull”). As for Morbid, Kofoed can inhabit Vincent’s penchant for exploring the dark side of religion and/or occult themes: “Nephilim” is the band’s take on the titular Biblical beings (“From the embers of mankind / We fell as sons of God / Towering high we ruled this earth / The purest gold was birthed”), and “Unholy Inquisition” is your classic satanic exploration (“Grand religious desecration / Colossal genocide / A ritual extermination / Our master satisfied”). Interestingly, some of record’s best writing resembles a Chuck Pahalniuk character, like the narrators in “Shackled” (“First his eyes became of unholy paleness / The dawn of rot will conquer all”) or “Absorption” (“Spitting up blood is a mere disguise”).

Bottom line: Neckbreakker have made an impressive debut with Within the Viscera, which sounds like the best album Morbid Angel never made. Call what Neckbreakker do a modernization or call it a reimagining. Hell, you could even call it a (superb) impression if you wanted. Any of those—maybe all of ’em—fit, and they’re all complementary because this record is a necessary addition to the current OSDM revival. After all, the last Morbid record came out in 2017, and they don’t seem to be in any hurry to make another.