Necromandus - Orexis of Death & Live [Vinyl rip, 24-bit/96kHz & 16-bit/44.1kHz] (1973/2010)

Posted By : lom404 | Date : 25 Jun 2010 04:44:01 | Comments : 9 |

“

One of the more obscure but interesting stories in early 70s British rock is that of Cumbrian band Necromandus. Early associates of Black Sabbath the band were taken under the wing of Tony Iommi who felt he heard similarities to pre-Sabbath Earth, and subsequently acted as the band’s mentor and producer as the band assembled tracks for their debut album due for release in 1973 on the famous Vertigo Swirl label.

Unfortunately, due to the pressure of trying to arrest Sabbath’s won mid-70s decline Iommi ran out of time, interest or both in Necromandus and without his input, the album ended up shelved and the band split up without a commercial release to their name.

As a side-note, when Ozzy Osbourne first considered going down the solo route in the late 70s the first people he hooked up with were members of Necromandus but once again this failed to work out and they returned to obscurity.

I first came across the band when reading the decent book “How Black Was Our Sabbath” by former Sabbath crew member David Tangye and Graham Wright where it seemed to be put that Necromandus were somehow lost ‘doom’ masters, a sort of second Sabbath as it were, so of course I had to try to track some some of their work figuring that some 30 years later it must have either been released or a bootleg leaked out. Initially it was one hell of a struggle to find anything. Not even mp3s were appearing of this band but eventually a chance search on eBay turned up this 2000 release of the album on an obscure Italian label who sell direct on the auction site. A big bonus was that this label actually seem to care about the music and in addition to the CD had also released a luxury vinyl version in a gatefold sleeve and boasting decent sleeve notes.

<back cover>As it transpires the album is more an interesting collection rather than a lost classic. The wailing siren of the Intro gives way to a short acoustic piece entitled Mogidissimo Pt. 1 which is rather helpfully deciphered on the cover sticker as an anagram of “Iommi Is God”. This gives way all too quickly to the first song proper, the excellent Nightjar. A rollicking, riffing piece of pure early 70s progressive blues rock it quickly dispels any thoughts that Necromandus are mere Sabbath copyists as this is more akin to Wishbone Ash or Uriah Heep. A superb track that had the stars aligned differently was to be the single from the album. A Black Solitude follows in similar vein but without the memorable riffs. Some nice time changes but far more laid back than the work of their mentor’s band however first maybe the first time the influence is clear and you can here similarities in the lyrics if not hugely in the music. A bizarre and uncredited brief return to Mogidissimo gives way to Homicidal Psychopath, a song which sounds like Pete Townshend attempting a different direction such are the protesting lyrics. Still Born Beauty closes the side and is another excellent track that proves that even lacking the wall of sound Sabbath could boast they did possess the dark subject matter and just dressed it differently and with a lot more subtlety. Comparisons to Led Zeppelin even could be made on this track musically.

Gypsy Dancer is again a drawn out progressive rock workout that draws on folk and jazz influences at times but allows for some guitar wizardry of Barry Dunnery which makes it clear just why Ozzy called a few years later. Title track Orexis Of Death is another fine rocker and the vocals of Bill Branch are more enhanced here to great benefit. However once again it’s the guitar work that steals the attention. Dunnery alternates between intricacy and intensity and is joined for some subtle jazz-rock soloing by the God himself Tony Iommi. The slow, sparsely instrumented introduction to I’ve Been Evil suffers from some clearly audible tape hiss which is perhaps excusable given the archive release nature of work that was not necessarily given it’s final touches but this becomes less of an issue as the song develops and the full power of the band is employed. This track is actually the second sides highlight for me and it’s heavy enough to at last see some real comparison to Black Sabbath themselves until a suitably demonic final swirl ultimately gives way to a final return of the Satanic music-box sound of Mogidissimo Pt.2 that closes the album.

”

Bill Branch (vocals)
Barry Dunnery (guitar) [Ozzy Osbourne]
Dennis McCarten (bass) [Ozzy Osbourne]
Frank Hall (drums) [Ozzy Osbourne]

Orexis Of Death:

A1 Mogidismo
A2 Nightjar
A3 A Black Solitude
A4 Homicidal Psychopath
B1 Still Born Beauty
B2 Gypsy Dancer
B3 Orexis Of Death
B4 Mogidismo (Reprise)

Live (Recorded March 30th 1973 At The Casino, Blackpool):

C1 Judy Green Rocket
C2 Still Born Beauty
C3 Homicidal Psychopath
C4 Gypsy Dancer
D1 Limpet Man
D2 A Black Solitude
D3 Orexis Of Death
D4 Nightjar

Originally recorded 1972-73 for Vertigo but never released.
Producer - Tony Iommi (tracks: 1 to 8)
Engineer - Mike Butcher (tracks: 1 to 8)

Limited 2LP vinyl in gatefold sleeve with color insert. Green spiked vinyl.

Technical Info

Dynamic Range

AUDIOCHECKER

Download 16-bit/44.1kHz (FLAC TRACKS, CUE, LOG):
http://rapidshare.com/files/402563999/N73-16.rar

Download 24-bit/96kHz (FLAC TRACKS, NO CUE, NO LOG):
http://rapidshare.com/files/402563997/N73-24.rar

Scans (300 dpi, png) :
http://rapidshare.com/files/396260508/N73OODPNG.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/396266440/N73OODPNG.part2.rar

pw: pigandpepper

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Posted By: Rothna Date: 25 Jun 2010 04:59:57

Man, thank you so much for this! I always meant to grab this, but spaced it off the few times I found it posted. Great!!!!

Posted By: Diddley Date: 25 Jun 2010 06:31:29

Thanks but the links for the music is wrong...those are "Cathedral - The Guessing Game" links...

Posted By: lomik70 Date: 25 Jun 2010 06:47:24

thanks, but links is wrong(

Posted By: lom404 Date: 25 Jun 2010 06:58:23

sorryyy....

Posted By: lomik70 Date: 25 Jun 2010 08:52:53

thanks))))) :-)

Posted By: Diddley Date: 25 Jun 2010 10:56:16

Cheers for the right links for these great tunes!

Posted By: VanGaal Date: 27 Jun 2010 09:30:10

Thanx for this great band!
But according to spectres of these audio files it is not a 24/96 transfer. Maybe it's 24/48...
By the way, the same issue refers to your Cathedral 2010 vinyl rip.
Spectres:
http://i7.fastpic.ru/big/2010/0627/8c/fcdca430f739629b4ea36ff4c7eed98c.jpg
http://i7.fastpic.ru/big/2010/0627/13/9d8ef184d14c44bdf573aa0e47387413.jpg
http://i7.fastpic.ru/big/2010/0627/9a/46bb97031f35c99f8a0a96993146009a.jpg
http://i7.fastpic.ru/big/2010/0627/2b/dbbfe0849332310b2e00a3f3ceba592b.jpg

Posted By: sergandes Date: 27 Jun 2010 16:21:57

Big Thanx!!!

Posted By: charlyonrop Date: 04 Jul 2011 12:38:38

Still online! Thanks for this hard to find nugget...

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