Friday, August 30, 2013

... gradual tone-building devourers : NIXA (EP Review)

From the unforgiving swamps of South Florida, comes the bone shattering heavy doom / sludge act NIXA. The band formed in 2012 and consists of vocalist Valentin Mellstrom, also singer of Death Wolf (with members from Marduk - considering this and his name, this guy may have swedish blood!?), drummer Mike Rodriguez (Secret Arms), Andrew Herrero on bass and Anthony Mendolia on guitar.
Some months ago Nixa recorded a two track EP with South-Florida music heavyweights Ryan Haft (Capsule) and Jonathan Nuñez (Torche) at Pinecrust Studio  and -if not done yet- I'd like you to pay attention to this amazing debut !

First song is "Bound in Troth", a massive monster of crawling heaviness which - from the word go - makes a very strong impression on the listener. Catchy and mid-paced riffs are mixed with slow crushing ones, almost trance-inducing with flourishing eerie melodies. 

Nixa knows how to build atmospheres, including vocally wise - with Mellstrom's fearless expression. I'm very impressed by this guy's voice who's basically pretty much clean but utterly gritty, creepy and even sometimes kicking up the jam ! It's not that the music lacks of thickness and textures at all but with a slight reverb, his nasal and moody voice adds considerably in emotion and deepness... 
"Superior" is slightly more rough with an amazing hardcorish dynamic in its beginning. Albeit different,  the song shows a great variety too, culminating in the eerie and spaced-out atmosphere of the mid-part, while  ending in a pretty gnarly way with an incredibly heavy and dirty bass, plus pounding drums !
NIXA's sound has the perfect amount and balance of sludge and doom, with various overtones emanating from each one's various experiences, could it be Post HC and psychedelic Stoner. Powerful and destructive as Florida's actual leading acts Shroud Eater and Hollow Leg, Nixa with its additional ambient textures constitutes  their perfect complement to form an amazing swampy trident that just a very few other areas of this rotten earth can claim to count on ! 
This is just damn too fucking short (11 little minutes) but with just those songs, NIXA proves to be one of the very best newcomers of the year and it's good to know that the quartet is planning to go back soon into the studio to record more brand new songs, cause one thing is sure : Nixa has arrived in the metal world with an uncompromising ferociousness and have no plans of leaving it until it has been completely devoured !!!
 Now, enjoy this FREE downloadable EP, with rolling a fat one and drinking a fresh one, this is the best thing you could do to start your week-end...




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