ALBUM REVIEW: Beyond Human Concepts – Nihility
Portugal’s death and black metal undergrounds feature probably some of the most intriguing and impressive acts in mainland Europe. As a result, there’s more than a few excellent hidden gems within those scenes who are genuinely making genuinely world class music. One such band is Porto-based quartet NIHILITY, whose 2019 debut full-length Thus Spoke The Antichrist proved to be a masterclass in modern, memorable blackened death metal that boasted stunning musicality and a sound more fully formed than the vast majority of new acts. The follow up to that record, Beyond Human Concepts, sees the band’s sound develop even further, showcasing a broader approach to song-writing and some tentative but effective experimentations with their sound.
Martyrdom For The Herd is a slow-burning start to proceedings, coupling groove-laden rhythms with polished leads, fierce gutturals and tight drumming. It gives the track a monstrous yet catchy feel that grabs the listener’s attention immediately. Hubris takes the faster, more technical flourishes that defined the latter half of the previous track and builds on them, lending an energetically varied bent to the music whilst still possessing lots of weighty sections similar to the album’s opener. Destroy The Shackles Of Prejudice, with its intricate drums, crushing basslines and ferocious vocals, has a chunkier quality to it. The guitars here utilise tonnes of slick melodicism, contrasting with the muscular undercurrent of the track incredibly well with some great, memorable riffs.
Human Stupidity has a more primitive, acerbic edge, adding a shot of punk into the sludgy death metal to make this far more rabid and chaotic than previous offerings. Conflicting Vanities sees the beefy, rhythmic elements within the band’s sound come prominently to the fore, crafting a juggernaut of a track with a brilliant intensity and particularly effective guitar and bass hooks that mark this out as one of the better tracks on the record so far. Will To Power is arguably one of the album’s best, with some extremely razor sharp guitar work and bellicose gutturals being the focal point of this unflinchingly aggressive and powerful track which also incorporates hooks that are definitely denser than on the previous five numbers.
The Religious Dogma continues in a similar vein, leaning heavily into the more speed-driven and cacophonous aspects of its sound, and proving to be an exceptionally caustic, savage affair that balances the catchier components of the band’s sound with their more grating and dissonant ones extremely well. Beyond Human Concepts sees the music take a distinct turn towards melodeath, with a few notable progressive flourishes, throwing in plenty of jarring sections in amongst the incredibly technical and crisp sound on offer. It’s a marked change from the blackened death metal that has been central to this record’s overall sound, but it works perfectly here – a refreshing change of pace that pays dividends. Sea Of Thoughts once again sees the sound shift to a more atmospheric and beguiling one. It’s built upon minimalistic leads that give this brief but fantastic piece of music an epic air, bringing the album to a close on a high note and further diversifying the band’s sound even in the record’s closing moments.
There are a lot of similarities between this record and Thus Spoke The Antichrist; there’s a strong classic blackened death metal influence that runs throughout the album, and there’s a great balance between the melodic and the acerbic that doesn’t skew too much one way. However, it’s clear that NIHILITY are becoming far more confident as songwriters on this album, with the more progressive elements within their sound creeping to the fore a little more prominently than on their debut, hinting at what could potentially be coming on future releases. This whole record has an incredibly lean, tight and monstrous sound as well, making it all the more easy to get drawn in to. It will be interesting to see how the band are able to surpass it with whatever they have in store next.
Rating: 8/10
Beyond Human Concepts is out now via Vicious Instinct Records.
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