NEXWOMB: Exegesis Of Nihility
Release year: 2019/2020
Label: Nihilistic Noise Propaganda/Morbid Chapel Records
Originally released on tape by Nihilistic Noise Propaganda in 2019 and on CD the following year by Morbid Chapel, Exegesis Of Nihilty is the debut album by US war metal/bestial black metal duo Nexwomb. True to form, their brand of down-tuned black/death metal is a swirling maelstrom of chaos.
However, setting the band apart from the most generic exponents of the genre, the song titles are long and cumbersome to say the least. How about Immolated Supplication For The Infidimensional Thaumiel (Transmogrified Divination)… just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Not to mention Negation Equations To Desolate The Adamic Covenant (3rd Dimensional Flesh Subjugation). Sadly, the lyrics are nowhere to be found, as it’d be interesting to see if the peculiarity of the names extend there.
Of course, you can’t just listen to the music and decipher the lyrics. True to the bestial tradition, the gruff growls are laden with cavernously reverberating echoes, rendering them even more indecipherable than they’d otherwise be. The same goes for the riffing: I’m sure the guitars play notes and chords, but due to the low end heavy tone and rumbling, cavernous production, it’s all just a deadly swirl of chaos. No surprises here, if you’ve ever heard a bestial black metal album before.
Within their chosen niché sub-genre, Nexwomb lean more towards what I call the “modernist” end of the spectrum. Where the basest Beherit and Blasphemy worship is decidedly old school and doesn’t try to push the genre one inch forward, bands such as Teitanblood have brought at least some degree of renewal to the sound, even if it is comparably small. Nexwomb bear more resemblance to Teitanblood than the two mentioned before, or bands such as Abysmal Lord and Proclamation, whose sound take off from before Beherit went left-field.
Whilst not offering anything remotely new to the genre, Nexwomb do what they do quite adequately. It’s brutal, it’s cavernous, it’s primitive and it’s bestial. It’s all a bit run-of-the-mill, to be honest, but there’s that undeniable charm only this kind of extreme metal possesses. You’d be hard pressed to name even one individuating characteristic in Nexwomb’s sound, one musical trait that clearly sets Nexwomb apart from their peers – but for some reason it doesn’t really matter. Derivative, unoriginal and generic this may be, but it’s still oddly appealing.
But that’s the weird charm of bestial black metal, war metal, primitive black/death metal, or whatever you choose to call this kind of music, isn’t it? A band can sound quite generic, quite alike who knows how many other bands, but as long as they sound fierce, bestial and authentic, you still like it.
I know I do.
3.5/5
Only Death Is Real 