This article proposes a hybrid numerical-analytical approach to effectively predict the sound absorption coefficient of complex periodic metamaterials with a reasonably low computation time. A variation of an existing metamaterial, consisting of a periodic succession of necks and cavities, is also proposed. The design variation was intended to decrease the frequencies of the absorption coefficient resonant peaks and consists in adding eccentricity in the neck position. The hybrid approach combines a thermoviscous-acoustic (TVA) approach with the transfer matrix (TM) method. The TVA approach estimates the thermoviscous losses of acoustic waves in a periodic unit cell (PUC) of the metamaterial. The TM method is used to simulate the acoustic behaviour of the complete metamaterial from the TM of the PUC calculated numerically. The approach is compared to impedance tube measurements on prototypes of the metamaterial. The comparison shows that the proposed approach is in good agreement with the measured sound absorption coefficient. In addition, numerical simulations and experiments demonstrate that the proposed variation of the existing metamaterial results in a shift of the absorption peaks down in frequency without deteriorating their sound absorption performance.