With all sight dimmed and the way blocked by columns of trees weighted with blackest shadows fresh horrors are evoked, minds are lost in red-and-grey hazed psychic cataclysm brought on by the throttled churning of Bern, Switzerland-based death metal quintet NIHILO‘s brief but damning call down the chasm per this fifth full-length album. Trampling fast with their melee’d response the band’s reprisal within ‘Abyss‘ carries their signature groove-driven classicist death metal wiles, activating ten-handed wield of all weaponry collected along their two-decade plus span of action. The resulting half-hour rip through impresses per its sometimes grinding, crusted and confrontational burst-‘n-barrage readied craft, a straight forward but no less personalized.

Nihilo formed as a quartet circa 2003 fostering their own amalgamated take on death metal for about five years before releasing anything official. Their debut EP (‘Nyktophobia‘, 2008) took influence from groove metal, melodic death, and metallic hardcore of the time and hadn’t telegraphed much of what was to come beyond a general death metal sound. The band’s debut LP (‘Concordia Perpetua‘, 2010) turned a pretty wide corner with greater capability, pumped speed and elements of blackened death and grind eking into their rhythmus. I’d not discover the band ’til the release of ‘Dum Spiro Spero‘ in 2014 when it’d caught my attention via the Paolo Girardi cover art and decided to grab it blind. That second album is well representative of the style of death metal the band’ve pursued since, something like a grindier and groove-readied late 90’s Angelcorpse sound or 2000’s Malevolent Creation with shorter songs and some crustier d-beat pushing the riffs along. They’ve been entirely consistent in developing within the bounds of that core identity per the three albums released beyond that point, including ‘Abyss‘.

‘Abyss‘ generally refines the percussive rumblings and Morbid Angel‘d grooves of 2022’s ‘Resolution‘ within a tightened pocket, sticking to the ~three minute death metal song format with grind/crust stabs erupting more readily (re: “Voidbound”), kicking back to some of the qualities of ‘Dum Spiro Spero‘ while updating the clarity of their production values developed beyond. Side A sticks to shorter shocks to start with the ‘Covenant‘ level introduction via “Primal Instinct” catching my interest outright and the crust ripped “Voidbound” compounding pursuit of the band’s delve into damned but already varietal sounds. We hit a chunky mid-paced crowd mover with “Impending Death” and back to lava-spitting diabolic wrath with single “Dishonored Death” right after. If nothing else the running order here is primed to hold the attention of the death metal ear with the full sprawl of what Nihilo are all about, all of it killer and pretty damned straight forward.

The first half of ‘Abyss‘ rips through Nihilo‘s general ouevre, a grand reintroduction to their action in parts, but the second half still has riffs to crack away at on this ten song ~half hour total spread. “Veil of Nothing” is a standout for my taste per its discordant scrambling progressions and odd celestial ambient drop off per its final third, almost an early Mithras-level event in spirit. It is both an outlier (“Roots in Bone” kinda does the same thing) and a temperate setting for the album’s second half where the band continue to cut a few riffs, a change-up or two per song with their deathgrind trigger hand no less readied than it was a decade ago. Side B is generally more cohesive, focused on its task than the first half but features less fiery action within its head-down, riff forth presentation though closer “Enter the Abyss” shakes loose slightly on the way out.

On the brief shred through this record Nihilo entertain via their focus on the riff and the variety their experience brings, a fine addition to a long-standing foundation. As a death metal record ‘Abyss‘ is entirely approachable but bears its own mark worth revisiting, particularly within the tear through its first half. Otherwise the curation of the band’s discography has always been class and the inclusion of artwork from the brilliant Absolute Desert Art reinforces that with its unearthly surrealistic scene. The total package is potentially unsurprising for the returning fan but a good introduction for folks who aren’t already indoctrinated to their grinding ‘old school’ death metal informed verve. A moderately high recommendation.

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