ALBUM REVIEW: Nibiru, "Netrayoni" (2018)

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)

Date Released: 25/05/2018

Label: Argonauta Records

Vocal treatments, humming effects and elements you rarely hear in sludge decorate the exteriors everywhere. The heart of these songs is firmly in the doom/sludge camp, but this iteration of Nibiru was fearless in an atypical fashion when it came to experimentation

“Netrayoni”2CD//DD track listing:

1). Kshanika mukta

2). Apsara

3). Sekhet aahru

4). Qaa-om sapah

5). Arkashani

6). Kwaw-loon

7). Sekhmet

8). Celeste samsara is broken

9). Viparita karani

10). Sothis

11). Carma geta

The Review:

Italian sludge trio Nibiru released last year's "Qaal Babylon" to some acclaim. The dense atmosphere and ambitious orchestration made it one of the strongest recordings in its discography. With interest up, its label has seen fit to remaster and reissue the band's second album, "Netrayoni." The results are as good as you might anticipate.

The reissue catches the sludge gods at some of their wilder best. "Netrayoni" got favorable reviews when it came out four years ago. It is a record that has held up quite well.

Nibiru's superpower has always been doing uncommon music. Its thick arrangements always have a flourish of something different. That is great for metal connoisseurs who will not be satisfied with just glacial chords, and want a new take on the music. The band is also apt to challenge its fans, as it does in the forbidding 11-minute opener "Kshanika mukta." A noise infused track, it's a step back a few years to what a slowed down version of The Body may have grilled in its backyard. There are syncopated guitars with distortion and quirky vocals. However, songs like "Apsara" and "Sekhet aahru" offer the traditional sludge as only Nibiru can do.

This album was released in 2014, when drummer Siatris was still with the band. Those who came to the group with "Qaal Babylon" may notice delicate divergences. L.C. Chertan was behind the kit for the last record, and the playing there was measured and quite deliberate at turns. "Netrayoni" sees a more ragged style take hold, which works for the record, particular on winding, freakier, more progressive cuts such as "Celeste samsara is broken." On the other hand, it is surely a ponderous matter to hear what the 16-minute "Kwaw-loon" might have become if Chertan had been on the original recording. Nibiru's delivery is nevertheless stunning.

If you are a newer fan, be aware this album is a departure. Vocal treatments, humming effects and elements you rarely hear in sludge decorate the exteriors everywhere. The heart of these songs is firmly in the doom/sludge camp, but this iteration of Nibiru was fearless in an atypical fashion when it came to experimentation. By all means, the current formation remains excellent. However, with "Netrayoni," you are sure to discover layers to the trio you may have missed on its last album. In all, this diversity is only going to make you love what they do all the more.

“Netrayoni”is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Nibiru - "Qaal Babalon"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released:22/09/2017

Label: Argonauta Records

Those who have followed Nibiru's past releases recognize the group has a way of creating dauntless music beyond what even the most experimental metal is about. "Qaal Babalon" is its best work to date, though you have to wonder how far the band can take this style next.

"Qaal Babalon" CD//DD track listing:

1. Oroch

2. Faboan

3. Bahal Gah

4. Oxex

The Review:

Standards for EPs versus full-length releases are a perplexing question. Is it a length thing? Number of tracks? And in a genre renown for sprawling cuts, what does it really mean anyway? In the matter of Nibiru, a performer that has its own talent for those long explorations, answers are even harder to come by.

Turin, Italy's Nibiru (not to be mistaken by the Russian metalcore band with the same moniker) are back to wrap up the year with a four-song release clocking in at nearly an hour. These have been an active few years for the trio. Nibiru's 2013 debut, “Caosgon”, was reissued in February 2016, the group offered up a fantastic EP, “Teloch”; and then more recordings in 2015 (“Padmalotus”) and 2014 (“Netrayoni”). Nibiru, in its releases, delivers a compelling brand of doom that melds drone, psychedelica and sludge. Drone and even a hint of funeral doom are perhaps the most prominent sounds in Nibiru's vision, and such may certainly define your love for the band, or it’s new, quite masterful, return in "Qaal Babalon."

The 19-minute "Oroch" begins the release with Ardath's transcendent guitar and vocals. Thick with effects, the instrumentation is supplemented with disharmonious drones. Black metal has its own symphonic offshoot. If drone doom had a related offspring, Nibiruwould be one of its great adherents. The song has a tremendously deep and apocalyptic feel to it all. As it chugs to the midway point, Ardath unleashes a ritualistic vocal that comes across as a particularly sinister chant more than a growl in the best, most infernal way. Make no bones about it – even for an ardent doom fan, this is a very punishing start. Yet its conclusion, with its black metal-esque curvature of lyrics, will be incredibly satisfying for those who stay the course.

Through the middle of the recording, "Faboan"and "Bahal Gah" are both the most provocative tracks because they are each going to demonstrate a side of Nibiruyou would not expect after the start of"Qaal Babalon." "Faboan" is the most accessible song on the release. It is not only a faithful and compelling doom composition, but there are post-rock and punk influences evident particularly across instrumental bridges. As such, as a second cut, this is a surprising and excellent choice because it builds on the imposing opener with something more comprehensible to the new fan. The next song verges into territory blazed by the opening, while managing to introduce sludge and drone that make it less disorienting than the selection could easily go off into. Praise be to L.C. Chertan on drums, whose work really steadies the song and brings out the potency of its first three minutes. Again, Ardath proves to be an agile vocalist, hitting a lower register and meeting the downtempo mood and effects.

Before you get the idea that Nibiru are now shooting for Mastodon-level acceptability, the band closes with "Oxex,"far more temerarious an entry than even the opening. Where to begin? Few extreme music songs ever neatly fit a category. Nowhere is that more pronounced than here. From its ceremonial drum beginnings to its gentle guitar contrasted against the serrated vocals, Nibiru enters into a trancelike state, with even a tambourine. At unexpected moments, doom bass lines pick at your flesh, but the mood refuses to until around the ninth minute. Then, with a hellish whisper, Nibirugoes not into a raging metal romp, but… silence, then drone. And then… things you will just have to listen to find.

Those who have followed Nibiru's past releases recognize the group has a way of creating dauntless music beyond what even the most experimental metal is about. "Qaal Babalon" is its best work to date, though you have to wonder how far the band can take this style next.

"Qaal Babalon" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook