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Necrophagia's biography is almost as horrific as its music. You could say a long-running death metal band that influenced many groups yet never received the acclaim they deserved and Phil Anselmo’s place in Necrophagia's discography are both terrifying endeavors, but Killjoy still carries his zombie army to the moonlight night after night, never complaining. "Deathtrip 69" takes place six years after "Harvest Ritual Volume 1," basically continuing the band's simplistic, driving death metal curse Killjoy zapped to life back in 1983. It was delayed a lot, sure, and it took a long time to finally emerge from the crypt, but Necrophagia fans, fear not: your undead warlords are still capable of making you happy.

Except for the polished production, not a whole lot has changed in the Necrophagia camp, musically, at least. Necrophagia's journey is essentially a mirror of their discography, with simple, crawling riffs hacking like knifes while Killjoy does that raspy shriek-thingy he does. The band's strive usually looks pretty fun, and I'll be the first to tell you that "Deathtrip 69" becomes more appealing with every listen. The riffs, melodies, structural themes and other core parts of Necrophagia's necromancy are fashionable for every member of the death metal family, especially the ones with a violence fetish.

Killjoy lyrically brings the horror tales to the voice of "Deathtrip 69," with tales of terror and blood about Satan and Charles Manson, oh my! Yes, lyrics aren't important usually, but it's good to see Necrophagia still keeps their verbosity alive and well; over twenty years on and still telling tales about ghouls and graveyards. I like the unusual tints they add to some of the tracks as well, like the melancholic lead that closes "Bleeding Eyes of the Eternally Damned," which is really unexpected and totally superb. "A Funeral for Solange" is a strange, acoustic-based tripper which halts the storm of gore and instead creates a creepy, sorrowful perception. Weird, but very cool.

So "Deathtrip 69" holds its own as a Necrophagia album from its gruesome beginning to the hilarious outro. There are a few questionable moments here and there, but I have nothing to bitch about overall, honestly. I mean, the head-throbbing heart of curses that pumps the addicting, beating drive in Necrophagia's torturous galley never fails to keep the record fresh and bursting with death metal goodness. It isn't the best thing ever, yet "Deathtrip 69" still gets a solid thumbs-up, and there's no doubt in my mind that Charles Manson approves as well.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com