NEKRASOV (Extinction) CD
NEKRASOV, which has been in existence since 1997, is the solo project by Australian Bob Nekrasov who was the former guitar player in Whitehorse. As with many one-man bands, the music is mainly synthetic, but in the case of NEKRASOV there is also an electric guitar and/or vocals in half of the tracks. The synthetic base is not shrouded - he does not try to ape real instruments (which is mostly leading to a feeble result), but he plays creatively with the artificial sounds and effects. Approximately half of the tracks ('Matter is the Bastard', 'Void into Nonvoid', 'No Room for Liberation Found 'Here' Or 'Now'', 'Extinction') are belonging to the field of dark ambient, whereby this tracks might sometimes can be very noisy or drony. Bob puts together resourceful arrangements which consistently evade categorization.
When the raging guitar appears in the foregrund in combination with harsh and hate-filled vocals, then the music is morphing almost completely into black metal ('We Are Just An Indifferent Interpretation of the Black Plague', 'Disillusion', 'Pre-Fetal Non-Mantra', 'Chant the Name of God in a Thousand Languages Until All is Blood and Feces'). These extremely loud sections become lost in distortion and noise, which in no way detracts from the intensity and anger. After the sonic eruptions, it's more like that there is only distortion and noise left which will emotionally drag the listener further down.
Just try the first three tracks. They give a good impression of the diversity of the music. The album kicks off with the fast-paced 'We Are Just An Indifferent Interpretation of the Black Plague' that starts with full black metal intesity. This is followed by 'Disillusion', a mixture of black metal and ambient, which is peppered with song samples to accompany the screeching vocals. The neck breaking speed is still there, but the guitar has been replaced by a warped and infernal noise which does not seem reconciliatory at all. The third track 'Matter is the Bastard' is continuing with the swoosh that leads across to a pure noise collage which expresses a feeling of threat. All in all, I am enjoying the new album by Bob NEKRASOV immensely and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who can cope with an uncompromising blend consisting of black metal and ambient/noise.
(Blaue Nacht)