Nekrogoblikon - Welcome to Bonkers

Nekrogoblikon have made a name for themselves by embracing the meme (or more accurately, starting out entirely as a meme), but for all the goofy, goblin-themed theatrics, the band have actually been cranking out a pretty unique blend of melodic death metal, black metal, and metalcore with a touch of power metal (which has led to the band calling their style “powercore”). And it’s come with some ultra-catchy tunes. The music video for “No One Survives” helped them reach semi-viral status, and for damn good reason; it’s a fucking riot (and I won’t spoil it).
Their fourth full-length endeavor, Welcome to Bonkers, is just what its title and cover art suggest. Though not spoon-feeding any laugh gags, the campiness that shows up all over the record continues their legacy of silliness, the album’s most prime examples being the weirdly gleeful piano-led and eventually oddly euphoric standout, “The Magic Spider” and the kitchy mid-tempo head-nodder, “Darkness”, riding a theatrically sinister horror synth motif and a steady mid-tempo beat with its infectious titular refrain sealing the deal.
“Thanks for Nothing, Moon” is another nice track highlighting the band’s performing and composing abilities with some pretty tasty vocal and guitar melodies, and the super-repetitive “Dressed as Goblins” is wacky as usual but pretty thrashy as well.
The album can be a bit homogeneous through some tracks, however, the first three especially. “Dragons” and “The Skin Thief” aren’t particularly comedically memorable or musically exciting either, but for its weak points, the album makes up for it for the most part with some real unique and well-written songs. It’s definitely worth at least a fair try.
It’s easy to write Nekrogoblikon off as a gimmicky novelty band, and Welcome to Bonkers seems to show that they don’t really care about changing that perception of their music. But for those open to music that doesn’t take itself so damn seriously or willing to look past the silliness, there are some seriously fine tunes on this album, of both the heavy and melodic varieties, as well as a sense of joyous love for this style of music, made contagious through the goofy lyrical and musical approach.

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