Okay, another band I've never heard before with their third album out. Nihilo hail from Switzerland and play death metal. I don't like Toblerone, but Burning Witches are very lovely, thank you.

Nihilo's branch of death metal is rather simplistic, both compositions and technicality-wise. It's sludgy, dirty kind of sound that Entombed utilized on their latter albums, like on 'Inferno' (2003) for example. The band are looking at the world today, hence 'Doom', and the riffs can be ominous or driving together with busy drumming. There surely is some hardcore punk music elements heard, ending up into grindcore at its fastest times. The pace varies from heavy stomping to tremolo-driven blast beat speeding.

What this album misses are those essential hooks. The songs are often so similar to each other. There is this power the band uses to push their music on like a juggernaut, but there is not much to cling to. And it does not really hurt getting driven over by this either. The song have some cool riffs and bits, but then some unexpecttedly bad stuff happens. This defect mars basically every song. The guitar solos try to emulate Slayer's mad fretboard antics, which they do not succeed in, or actually go for more melodic, composed kind of soloing.

The growled vocals can get bloody annoying with potato-in-mouth style pronunciation; guy ends up sounding like "euooeuaaooguu" a lot!!! When he actually open his mouth more, he has a forceful growl and shout, and his demonic snarl also work well. Just spit that hot potato out of your mouth, man!

The guitar sounds muffled and powerless, but also can get rather ripping, immediately rising the violence level. The kick drums peal somehow feebly. The mix is well balanced between the elements, and the bass guitar has its role backing up the guitars.

I understand what these guys are going for here: Angry death metal meets hardcore punk. They are here, but sadly killer songs aren't. Nothing simply much raises up from mediocrity here, except for longest song, which is the title track itself...

Rating: 6- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/23/2019 16:58