Amnis Nihili – Christological Escalation

Something raw, evil and blasphemous emerged from the underground pits of Athens. Amnis Nihili came to bring a large hit under the belt to all those who want their music safe, commercial, mid tempo and cheerful. The result that came up from the morbid minds of the members of the group is their first release, ”Christological Escalation”. An EP that brings the first sample of what is about to follow, a horrid and terrifying assault in the face of everyone wanting stereotypes in his music. A black metal maelstrom that when in some parts seems to become a little loose, it ain’t nothing more than the calm before the final storm unleashed upon untrained ears. Four tracks that require your attention, as they are not getting into typical structures but were made to make you think a little bit more than you do usually when you listen to music.

The title track that opens the EP enters in a very threatening way, just by pushing the play button, you listen to the vocalist spreading fear with his apocalyptic voice and the background reminds of a battlefield just in the moment where the possible armies’ clash is at its climax. Relentless and ruthless, very fast riffing and drumming and at parts, you feel like the throat of the vocalist is going to come out of his body and become a separate existence. Furious but not focused only in brutality, it slows a bit after the middle part, to also reveal some more influences on the sound of the band. The calm before the storm we were talking about a little before. A little longer than five minutes, it sets the tone and then after the initial shock, three more tracks follow to make you even more connected to this release.

”Wandering Among Ruins And Ash” doesn’t only have an impressive title, and is not only the longest of four tracks, even longer than the title track, but is also the most demanding of this EP. Even more enraged and fast, the drums are on a continuous race with the guitar riffs and in the end, noone wins, though space is left for both to express themselves, either separately or combined. The vocals are even more stretching on this one and it seems that there is a deep wound or complaint inside the vocalist’s soul to make him express the way he does. The guy spreads pain and ferocity together and his vocals fit so much to the ongoing massacre on the background that it’s quite irresistible to play this track from the beginning, as well as the others of course.

Surprise comes when ”Radiation” enters, an instrumental track in a somehow ambient approach that is surely something you wouldn’t expect, since the two previous tracks prepared you for something that might raise even higher speeds and evil feeling. Three calm minutes in this onslaught look like a light at the end of this swampy pit’s tunnel and just when you sit back and relax, waiting for some more surprise, you get fatalised by ”Infamous Judeochristian Seed”. Now it’s clear to you why ”Radiation” came out this way, nothing could relax you before the EP’s most ferocious moment. It was not just put to be something different but let things ease a bit before the hunter gets his prey captive. That’s what you feel in the end, a prisoner in a dark place without even a window to look out and of course, no light included.

These four tracks that were your companion for somehow less than seventeen minutes, managed to make you bang your head, suffocate, relax and in the end, dive so deep in a liquid that only makes you feel uneasy. The trio does his job in such a way that it feels like you listened to more stuff than you imagined. When it comes to repeat the listening of the EP, then your ears will catch immediately new sounds they didn’t do on the first listening, don’t forget to focus on the great samples that make the atmosphere even better. Though at the current moment they are in search of a vocalist, it seems that if they go on like this, they will surely achive something important, even having lost a very wild card in their armory. Those of you wanting your black metal to be full of expression, should immediately check Amnis Nihili and I think the best are to come for the band. Time will tell, but the first blow was a bull’s eye hit, straight at the center.