Nahum: And The Chaos Has Begun

We are near the end. The death of our species has begun. We have just entered the last era… At least that's the message from Czech metal outfit Nahum and their second album, And The Chaos Has Begun. Now we could debate those issues back and forth for hours and still come to few conclusions, so let's instead focus on the death meets thrash Nahum specialise in. In essence the main death stylings on this album come from vocalist Pavel Balcar, a growling rasp the order of the day, although the extreme vocal in a talking style that he sometimes relies on is slightly less convincing. The thrash side is delivered through the guitar tones and ethos of Tomash Nahum and Michal Kapec, the pair sometimes dipping toes into more extreme territory, but for the main more interested in tone and melody over aggression. It's the strongest element of Nahum, bassist Jan Balcer and drummer Tom Brighter (who will hopefully solve this band's seemingly troublesome efforts at settling on a rhythm section) willing and able to add a surge of power and force to back up the fret bursts.

While the performances stand tall, the song writing doesn't always quite match up; the lack of anything particularly new, or astounding, making for a solid, and in places impressive effort, but one that lacks for any real individual pulling power. That doesn't make "The Clash Of The Fury", "WWW (World Wide War)" or "Creator Of Emptiness" bad and I'd go as far as to suggest that there isn't one single track on the album that doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. However neither is there one that strides true and proud as a calling card of the might and fury that is all too often hinted at but never quite delivered. The unsettling structures and frenetic nature of "Vomit The Darkness" and the more considered build of "Funeral Of Age" do hint that this five piece aren't far away from making a more lasting mark when they pull out the stops and hit with all the anger they can muster. However as it is, too often this album feels like a compromise that results in it being neither an out and out thrashterpiece, or a memorable hit of extremity.

On this evidence Nahum need to make a concerted effort to decide which way they want to head. And The Chaos Has Begun shows this band understand how to structure convincing extreme metal outbursts and why thrash metal has long stood the test of time. However flip-flopping somewhere between the two proves too much of a stretch for a band only just settling into their stride. Which way they choose to head could be key to their future success, but this album suggests it's a choice that needs to be made.

Track Listing
1. Raging Chaos
2. Vomit The Darkness
3. Creator Of Emptiness
4. Funeral Of Age
5. Damned
6. The Clash Of The Fury
7. Under Fire
8. Rotten Lies
9. www (World Wide War)

Added: April 10th 2016
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Nahum on bandcamp
Hits: 3120
Language: english

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