NOTHING - review added 23rd June 2009
Album Review: The Torture Of The Nameless (2009)
For fans of: Thrash... and a solid slice of death
The cunningly titled Nothing were formed in 2005 by Fabian Kahwati (guitar and vocals) and Dale Van Haltren (drums) in the sunny climbs of Melbourne, Australia. Tank Johnson (bass) joined them soon after, and Tobias Shanahan (lead guitar) was added to the band more recently.
Their music is thrashy and, er, deathy. The guitars and rhythms are quick and tuneful, but there's a constant hint of something nasty lurking beneath the surface. Here is a band that play an alluring music which will attract music fans like moths to a candle, but in this case the candle has a big machete and it wants to eat your gizzards.
Fabian has a fine sound to his howls and offers a reasonable amount of variety in his grunts and demonic expressionism. Although they remain unsigned at the time of writing, they have already shared the stage with bands such as Amon Amarth and Children Of Bodom.
Opening track 'The Decree' might fool the unwary into thinking the album was something it wasn't. The track starts with some lovely echo-rich acoustic guitar work. After well over a minute, the main meat kicks in. The sound is At The Gates meets early metalcore. There's an overwhelming feel of Scandinavian blackness to the track, a sensation that ends up stretching through most of the album.
'Mechanics Of Anonymity' has awesome drumming. It's a head banger's dream of a track that works especially well in a car with BIG speakers. 'Floating In A Maelstrom' is another track with a top-end rhythmic assault in it. The drumming hints at battlefields and heavy weaponry, or perhaps pieces of a large meteorite pebbledashing the Earth. However you look at it, It's explosive and devastating. Some of the guitar work in the aforementioned track is beautifully melodic and hugely atmospheric.
'The Frailty Of Human Kindness' has a cool urgency in the vocals and nice tempo changes. 'Script Of Sorrow' is very Cradle Of Filth in it's underlying structure. Fabian's vocals go all crazy-demon-styly, although the guitars often offer a soothing rather than soul-tingling sound. 'I Collect Faces' really does look like 'I Collect Faeces' if you look at it too quickly, and that could never be a good name for a song. It's a fine track though. final song 'The Desolation Nocturne' is another Cradle Of Filth flavoured entry. It sounds incredibly like an agitated vampire telling a campfire story to a bunch of excited imps.
Some of the tracks on The Torture Of The Nameless suffer from a lack of imagination. Most of them, however, offer plenty of variety. Flashes of genius are few and far between, but overall this is a fine album most fans of 'heavier sh*t' will enjoy.
Check out... The Cradle Of Filth demon voices.
Track List:
01. The Decree
02. Mechanics Of Anonymity
03. Primitive Stain
04. Progenitop
05. Floating In A Maelstrom
06. The Frailty Of Human Kindness
07. Script Of Sorrow
08. Grey Day
09. Propaganda
10. I Collect Faces
11. The Desolation Nocturne
Artist's websites: Nothing , MySpace
