ALBUM REVIEW: Horizon Ontheemt – Nusquama

Dutch black metallers NUSQUAMA comprise of a variety of the leading lights of the Dutch underground scene, boasting members from bands such as LASTER, TURIA, FLUISTERAARS and NORTHWARD, the band has enough collective creativity and musicianship in its ranks to produce some really impressive, soaring atmospheric black metal. The bands debut full length, Horizon Ontheemt, is a great start, setting an incredibly high bar for them to surpass straight away, and building a great sound and aura around the band that could see them leave their stamp on the extreme metal world right out of the gate.

De Aarde Dorst is a jarring, powerful way for NUSQUAMA to start Horizon Ontheempt. Built around grating guitar lines, shrill, bellicose vocals and tight, rhythmic drumming, it’s incredibly intense and power right from the very first note, diving straight into a monstrous motif that sets a bleak yet aggressive tone immediately. The whole of De Aarde Dorst, though thoroughly vicious, is cloaked in a thick and sepulchral atmosphere that helps to really add to the tone and sound of this song, making it sound even more gargantuan than it does initially. Ducking and diving between far more driven sections and more reserved, soaring ones, it’s an eclectic piece of music, and sets the bar extremely high right off the bat. Wrevel follows in suit, throwing the listener right into a blisteringly fast paced, caustic and ferocious slab of black metal. The discordant riffs and precise, intricate drumming create an excellent back drop for the vocals, which carve through the mix like a rusty blade, adding a dirty, acerbic sound to an already heady and potent musical brew. Again changing tempos, taking the listener from fast, fierce passages through to far more mid paced, spartan parts, the music ebbs and flows between a full throttle aural assault and more minimalist, sublime moments which help to break the song up perfectly.

NUSQUAMA offer a change of pace with Vuurslag. It’s a much slower offering, with a slightly lighter guitar tone which makes this sound far more restrained. However, there’s some slight dissonance peppered liberally throughout the music, which gives this song lots of razor sharp, grating edge, and when coupled with the more vicious vocal patterns, it makes what would be an otherwise glorious, atmospheric track seem darker and more ferocious. The first and second part of the song are broken up by a sparse, atmosphere drenched section, which quickly gives way to a much more substantial and savage section, with far more robust guitar work and drumming, which does an amazing job of injecting more diversity into the sound and keeping the song interesting right up to the very end. Eufrozyne, with its initial, scatter brained drumming, is a mid paced, yet visceral, track that has plenty of dense, hypnotic guitars and hellish howling to make it a powerful musical statement throughout. It quickly gathers momentum, launching into a far more chaotic motif, before abruptly shifting to an ethereal, guitar based piece drenched in ambience, which provides some lighter moments in between the far more cacophonous ones. For the most part, the song is a whirlwind of dizzying, demented guitar hooks and frenetic drumming, but there still plenty of musical variety on offer, taking the listener on a musical roller coaster ride from the first note to the last, and not having a dull moment in between.

Ontheemd boasts a much more robust, fuller sound, with tar thick chords and booming, authoritative drumming creating a substantial sound for the vocals to build themselves upon. The vocals provide an excellent contrast with the denser, darker sound of the rest of the song, acting as a razor sharp, acidic counterpoint to the bombastic flourishes of the rest of the song. The bridge between the songs first and second halves is centred around a cleaner guitar distortion, a dancing rhythm riff, interspersed with more dissonant leads, which helps to build anticipation for the songs second half, which launches into a style very similar, but noticeably more speed driven, than the first half. It proves to be a good variation on the formula that NUSQUAMA have made use of up until this point, and it works as a fantastic climactic track.

Met Gif Doordrenkt, the last and longest song on the record, stands as one of the most epic and grandiose songs on the whole record. Opening with a vast, expansive guitar line, it hooks the listener immediately, and maintains that interest right to the very end. Although the music is centred mainly upon the amazing guitar parts, the vocals manage to inject plenty of power and aggression into the mix, tinging this monolithic piece of music with a caustic, visceral energy that works perfectly with the musicianship on offer. The drums set a solid, authoritative pace, but don’t stand out as much as they have on earlier points on the album, being more reserved and allowing the rest of the music to carry the song. The songs second half is just as, if not more, powerful and memorable, with the same sort of huge, sprawling guitar chords being interspersed with minimalist, yet effective, lead guitar parts that provide some more depth to the sound. This final section gradually fades away, ushering in the end of the record on one of its most hair raising and catchy moments.

With many debut albums, there’s a lot of room for improvement – from the production to the music. The debut album from NUSQUAMA is not one of those cases; perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that each of the members has plenty of experience writing and recording this kind of music, and as a result NUSQUAMA have managed to nail their sound on the very first release. The sound is varied and impressive, shifting between harder and lighter moments seamlessly and filling this record with plenty of memorable moments, and they’ve set themselves a very high benchmark for any future releases. NUSQUAMA will be playing Horizon Ontheemt in its entirety at Roadburn Festival, and based on the way the music sounds on this album, their set will prove to be one of the must see highlights of the whole festival.

Rating: 9/10

Horizon Ontheempt is out now via Eisenwald.