Disharmonium - Nahab＜限定盤＞

Disharmonium: Nahab is Blut Aus Nords third consecutive musical meditation on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. The first was May 2022s long-player Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses. They followed in September with the five-track Lovecraftian Echoes EP in a subscriber-only edition from Order of Outer Sounds, but its now widely available digitally. The second word in the title of Disharmonium: Nahab is Arabic (نحب), a verb that means, alternately, "love" and "wail," or "lament." For decades, BAN leader, composer and producer Vindsval -- who wrote, produced and mixed this set -- has felt little connection to 21st century black metal. Though this is instantly recognizable as the same band that recorded The Work Which Transforms God, the Memoria Vetusta and 777 trilogies, Disharmonium: Nahab moves further afield. Their vanguard meld of dense atmospherics, blackened and ambient soundscapes, spiky buzzing guitars, and almost indecipherable lyrics rife with esoteric spirituality and philosophy remain constant, but are appended and expanded by startling, sometimes unsettling proggish melodies, jagged keyboard grooves, and a filthy maximal mix. Opener "Hideous Dream Opus #1" is full of otherworldly ambience and tension akin to dread. Its an intro/interlude with subsequent parts that introduce longer tracks. It gives way to "Mental Paralysis" with thick, circular, chant-like guitar vamps in contrasting modes above heavily reverbed, indecipherable growling vocals that sound bestial at times. Advance track "The Endless Multitude" offers a dialogue between warring guitar vamps in alternating tonalities with minimal, shard-like leads. The drumming clatters, pops, and drives the repetitive phrasing, but is so syncopated it feels wonderfully chaotic. "Queen of the Dead Dimension" is a highlight. Its urgency is governed by a droning, dirty bassline and stacked guitars playing chromatics in fingerpicked vamps, with a snare and tom-tom cadence that underscores then increases the tension and intensity. "Nameless Rites" delivers psychedelicized black metal (influenced no doubt by 2019s Hallucinogen), but wonky. The production sounds like the early Killing Joke of Whats This For? jamming with Sonic Youths Lee Ranaldo and Earths Dylan Carlson. After two minutes of clanging guitar feedback, razor-wire riffs, grinding jagged bass, and keyboard vamps, the drum kit establishes dominance and brings an uneasy balance to the chaotic force -- tempering the incessant attack -- while lonely lead guitar lines accompany with uncharacteristic gentleness. In closer "The Ultimate Void of Chaos," blastbeat snares create dynamic momentum atop warring atonal guitars before a layered, meandering lead line, growling vocals, boatloads of reverb, and near-gothic ambience gel with power and taste. Fans expect consistency from BAN and Disharmonium: Nahab doesnt disappoint. Its progression from beginning to end sounds not only logical, but profound. Stronger than either of its predecessors, it is arguably more artistically successful than any release since 2014s Memoria Vetusta III: Saturnian Poetry. This is easily a candidate for best of 2023. ~ Thom Jurek