Persuader have always been one of the more aggressively powerful Power Metal bands. From the very first album, The Hunter, they have put guitar complexity and interplay front and center. Each album contains many intricate guitar passages and this requires several repeated listens to absorb. One thing that pretty much everyone who hears them remarks on is singer Jen's vocal similarities to one Hansi Kursch from Blind Guardian. I would be remiss to pretend that the two don't sound similar. However, this is a double edged blade so to speak. On one hand you got a guy whose voice reminds listeners of one of the most loved bands in the genre. On the other hand though this makes people compare the two bands too much, and newcomers to Persuader are put off by the lack of hooks compared to Blind Guardian. Persuader are their own thing, but these constant comparisons to BG definitely have grated the nerves of the band.

If I were to compare Necromancy to another album in the band's catalog, it would be Evolution Purgatory. This feels like an abridged version of that record. Unlike When Eden Burns and The Fiction Maze, there aren't very many harsh vocals here. They aren't gone completely, but I do feel that their abundance on the two earlier releases were due to Jens utilizing the death vox to disassociate himself from all the constant Hansi comparisons. Also, much like in Evolution Purgatory, choruses are not loud, beer hall singalongs. Choruses here are not huge releases. They come at erratic times, and they blur by as we race to more instrumental sections. Depending on your need for catchiness, you might really dislike this album. This isn't something you put on as background music and then when the catchy chorus comes round you start humming it before going back to fiddling with your weiner. If this is playing and you aren't paying attention you might not even notice a chorus the whole length of a song. Necromancy is most definitely a guitar oriented album and this makes sense because as well as being the singer, Jens used to play rhythm guitar as well. So, as a vocalist / guitarist, he tends to willingly gravitate towards long instrumental sections.

Raise The Dead is probably the heaviest song that Persuader has recorded so far. Despite starting off with some kind of haunted carnival type effect, it breaks out into quickly picked, dissonant riffing that paints a picture of decaying waste and anger at such bleakness. In accordance with the name of the song and its subject matter, this does contain a few sparse death vox. The Infernal Fires is the closing epic and while being another number with harsh vocals, there's something else here interesting in the intro. At first, you might be tricked into thinking this is a slow song due to the acoustic intro but have no fear! This is just to give the listener a brief respite. The interesting thing though is that the briefest bit of keyboards come in and the melody reminds me of Rebirth, the song, from Angra. No it's not a direct copy or anything, but it's just a cool little thing I noticed. While I said that this was the "epic" it must be pointed out that's basically because it's just about nine minutes long. But, with only seven tracks and clocking in at forty four minutes, most songs come within a minute or two of the eight minute mark anyway. Again, this plays into the band's affinity for interesting instrumental maneuvering.

If anyone was worried about Persuader's first release on Frontiers Records, they needn't be. Necromancy is definitely not their "melodic rock album" and they did not get wimpier. Its strengths though are also its weakness. Since this isn't an immediately catchy album, I don't see it being played in lots of "swords n sorcery" playlists alongside bands that are catchy choruses and nothing else. Persuader have released a solid, yet niche album. I hope it finds a sizeable audience, and I also really hope it doesn't take six years for the next album to be released.