Necrosadist - The Alpha Nihil

The Cypriots behind Necrosadist led me to really expect some great stuff from this short EP. Although Menthor on Drums has been in several other bands seeing Dictator's name amongst the participants immediately evokes images of the awesome Dysangelist released under his self-titled project. And though I knew that this was a different force than the classically influenced, black metal tinted funeral doom which evaporated out of hell and into my stereo speakers during ritual playback of that tape, I believed that Necrosadist could be for me what Apolion was last year - a glistening beacon of resiliency amongst the matte black metal current that has pervaded so readily these last several years.

So does Necrosadist's EP, The Alpha Nihil, live up to my expectations? I don't know. Somewhere in the middle maybe but something hints at a subdued greatness here. It's like hearing a lot about a great restaurant only to get there and find that they ran out of the dish you wanted to order... To be frank, this EP is raw, dirty, unpolished and resembles a simmering pile of scat in the corner of the room. When you think about it though, when was the last time that you were walking down the street and didn't stop to confirm your fears when you saw roadkill lying in the street? My largest gripe with the EP is that the first song was longer than I felt it needed to be and contained some rather mediocre riffs while the two songs really displayed two different styles of the filthy stuff Necrosadist create. Opening track "Day of Dissolution" is a much more conventional sounding raw black metal track. There are some really good slow marching sections and near the four-fifths mark a fascinating clean section with blast beats that sounds like something Watain would do if they weren't too busy being generic. Unfortunately, there are other sections which make me seriously consider never listening to the song again. The caboose is the title track and it saves the EP for sure.

The second track on this fifteen-minute EP is a weird mix of bubbling and fizzing textures; frothy atmospheres of curdling blood and melting ligaments. It is far less direct than the opening track and where the first track had moments which could've come from any 'ol black metal band anywhere on the planet, The Alpha Nihil, is a much more interesting setup. It resembles a wandering hermit, confused and downtrodden, exploring his surroundings in a circle, his mind hazy and somewhere within, his consciousness is screaming in anguish. The layering of the guitars is an interesting thing with the most prevalent layer being a lead layer with a lot of whammy-bar experimentation. The first half of the track relies heavily on a layer of phasing and echoing guitars while the second half of the song is more solidly built of riffs. The drumming is set back but crisp enough and the vocals follow the same pattern as they did in the first track on the EP. While the first track is questionable but hinted at some great Ideas, the second track took those opportunities and excelled at them.

To go back to the restaurant metaphor, The Alpha Nihil is like going to a restaurant and finding out what you really wanted to order was no longer available but they brought you out this really phenomenal plate of french fries covered in bacon and chives and cheese, only the plate wasn't a plate... it was a naked woman and you weren't actually eating at a restaurant, you were in a ritual mutilation ceremony.