Blast To The Face...

Nihilo - Dum Spiro Spero (2014)

Giving death metal a light coat of doom to its bass and slower guitar sections, Nihilo's latest album is an aggressive but well-crafted offering from the Swiss quintet, with an effective degree of viciousness heating their barrage of instruments, throaty vocals, and a number of well-used audio samples.  As the group kicks into the start of their second decade together, they have a clear grip on their material, style, and approach, turning out a well-rounded album with hardly any fat or over-indulgence left on the jagged bones of the songs.  The songs get in, run over some bridges, spend enough time playing with the riffs to satisfy, then wrap things up in one way or another.  That wrap-up might come in the form of a sudden instrumental chop, one of the feverish samples, or a smooth grind out of the last riff, but no matter how Nihilo goes about capping their songs, it provides a snappy cap to their latest rampage.
Of special note is the title track, which closes out the album with 20+ minutes of grimy-sounding (in a good way) progressive changes with a host of surprises in store.  The album is due out on vinyl at the end of the month, so if you've got a taste for highly-satisfactory death doom (or is it doom death?), be sure to pick yourself up a copy from Wooaaargh Records.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Dream Death, High On Fire, Yellowgoat, Coffins, Sarcofago

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Nihilo - Risen from the Ashes (320 kbps)

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