New York's HUSH are already setting the bar pretty high for 2016 with the release of their unrelentingly crushing, philosophically themed five-track EP, Nihil Unbound. Intense and distressing in the best possible way, the EP is a half-hour of heavy, crust-filled sludgy doom that's harsh, bleak and depressing.
Slow, trudging rhythms establish an oppressive atmosphere on opening track "...Gazes Into You" that carries on throughout the release. The angular, eight-minute "Oror" is wonderfully diverse in structure, featuring various tempos, dark tones and sinister vocals. "Shinda Inu No Shashin" starts with a colossal, chugging riff and aggravated, tormented vocals that dominate the track, while staggering drums and unorthodox rhythms build up before unravelling and crashing back down.
"A Permanent Echo Through the Dream" features spacey, gorgeous melodies that juxtapose with the obliterating heaviness of the final track, "Shattering the Great Chain of Being," which ends the EP with a cacophony of noise. Minimalistic and raw, yet thoughtful and thematically complex, Nihil Unbound is absolutely superb.
(Independent)Slow, trudging rhythms establish an oppressive atmosphere on opening track "...Gazes Into You" that carries on throughout the release. The angular, eight-minute "Oror" is wonderfully diverse in structure, featuring various tempos, dark tones and sinister vocals. "Shinda Inu No Shashin" starts with a colossal, chugging riff and aggravated, tormented vocals that dominate the track, while staggering drums and unorthodox rhythms build up before unravelling and crashing back down.
"A Permanent Echo Through the Dream" features spacey, gorgeous melodies that juxtapose with the obliterating heaviness of the final track, "Shattering the Great Chain of Being," which ends the EP with a cacophony of noise. Minimalistic and raw, yet thoughtful and thematically complex, Nihil Unbound is absolutely superb.
