Antigama + Nyia Split Album Review
by Mark Hensch
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A lot can happen in little time. Testing this notion, Eastern bloc grind metal bands Nyia and Antigama team up for a brief sample of brutality. Clocking in at a fleeting 16 minutes, it is an album which speeds by before it can truly satisfy.
Leading the blitzkrieg is Poland's uber-technical grinders Nyia. Interestingly enough, the only "grind" elements this bizarre group presents are lightning-quick song lengths. Outside of this one clichι, however, Nyia does little grinding, opting instead for brief but uber-technical grooves. The whole affair sounds like Gojira going Meshuggah, only much faster.
Opening cut "Of the Will" is a sound introduction, painting Nyia as a band which soars through labyrinthine riffs with ethereal vocals. This picture fits until things collapse into a series of riffs struggling against the pull of black hole and failing miserably, resulting in a tense standoff between technicality and savagery.
"Of Power" opts for the animalistic approach, eviscerating eardrums in less than a minute with brutal shrieks, snatches of sing-song and jittery metal played at the speed of light.
So fast is the song, in fact, the appearance of "Of Those" sounds like another transition in one song rather than a switch between two. Though it stomps through the same futuristic grooves as "Of the Will," this particular monster also employs blastbeats and mind-altering guitar solos. In a curveball which is Nyia's shining moment on the split, "Will" drops a brief jazz intermission before stepping back into the orderly pummel of the earlier riffs.
As compelling as such new millennium grind is, Antigama's section reveals greater potential. Mixing speed, complexity, low-end distortion and eclectic samples, the final product is a lithe killing machine for tomorrow's grind fanatics.
In classic grind fashion, "Beyond Me" kicks off the second half of the split with a creepy movie sample and blistering metal chock full of cutting-edge technicality in mere minutes.
In contrast stands "Nature," a surreal air-raid of a song which meshes passages of hyperactive grind with unnerving, atonal guitars and big, psyche-warping drums. "Only" follows this trend, stumbling its way through corridor after corridor of time signatures while guitar leads stab like knives to the back.
"Torture," meanwhile, is anything but, the song offering a brief ambient interlude before the fury of "Adv."
Shifting between moments of violence and sinister, glacial riffs, "Adv" sounds like a though process of a killer before he snaps. Though ending song "The Trio Infernal" falters with its moody bass and video game sound effects, "Adv" is killer enough material to end the CD on.
If there is one problem with splits, however, it is the short run times. Given the grind offered by each of the two bands, this is not a shortcoming corrected here. Though a bit more depth would feel satisfying, this split squeaks by with just the bare amount of music. This metal reveal grind's future as a bright one, full of songs which are faster, leaner and more vicious than any which came before. Given this occurs in the blink of an eye, this is one impressive recording indeed.
Tracklisting
Of the Will (Nyia)
Of Power (Nyia)
Of Those (Nyia)
Beyond Me (Antigama)
Nature (Antigama)
Only (Antigama)
Torture (Antigama)
Adv (Antigama)
The Trio Infernal (Antigama)Check out Nyia at http://www.myspace.com/nyia
Check out Antigama at http://www.myspace.com/antigama
CD Info and Links
Antigama + Nyia Split Album Rating:7.5
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