NADIR Reviews

DESTROYED HUMAN
A lysergic marriage of titanic riffing, theremin, and vocals that seem like an enraged astronaut shouting back at Nasa after being told he’s going to be stuck in space for ever here on the debut album from Nottingham heads NADIR. I’ve know these four folks forever, and no doubt some of you will be familar with their other current and previous bands (Moloch, Army of Flying Robots, Dead in the Woods, Definition of Ape, Diet Pills, yadayadayada).
You can trace a line sonically this stuff all the way back to some of the heavier moments of AOFR (the start of “Health Farm Death Camp” maybe), and see the progression through each band, sense the element each person has brought to Nadir. There’s a sense of spaciness at work on the album, of it being the soundtrack to some giant doomed planet colliding with a black hole and being devoured in slow motion. A lot of sludge seems preoccupied with the pursuit of higher conciousness through smoking loads of weed and listening to Sabbath - but with Nadir it seems like an attempt to divorce yourself from earth completely and jettison off towards the darkest reaches of space. It’s telling that final track “Last Stand” ends of a more restrained, haunted note that the big climatic crash of guitars that make up the bulk of the sound. Perhaps they’ve reached their destination.
I’ve been listening to this a lot over the last week, and I suggest that you both check it out and if possible listen on headphones late at night - it seems to make more sense in that weird space between being awake and going asleep. It’s strangelly meditative for such a raucous affair. The bandcamp link is above but there should be a tape through Viral Age soon.
Incidentally - vocalist Jeremie also sings for Beast as God: there’ll be a fairly sizeable BAG interview up here in the next week or so fingers crossed.

TERRORIZER
Psychedelic doom quartet Nadir (featuring members of Bismuth, Moloch and Dead In The Woods) have recently put the finishing touches to their mind expanding debut album, and you can hear the entire thing right here…
Nadir was formed out of the ashes of Nottingham’s premier psych-doom outfit Dead In The Woods, who used to refer to their expansive, crusty wall of sound as ‘His Hero Is Hawkwind’, which, frankly, should tell you all you need to know. The band would unfortunately call it a day shortly after releasing their crushing debut album ‘The Sign Of The Son Of Man’ in 2012, but thankfully, most of the band have regrouped (alongside Bismuth / Megalodoom’s Tanya Byrne on bass) as Nadir, and have just unveiled an absolute monster of a record.
The self-titled album features three tracks that were previously heard on the band’s 2012 rehearsal demo alongside two brand new ones; the eerie, Ramesses-esque ‘Time Of The Wolf’ and the astonishingly heavy ‘Antenna Collapse’. The record unfolds with a potent, hallucinogenic intensity, as its cavernous doom riffs are augmented by sweeping theremin wails and enigmatic vocals courtesy of Jeremie Cauchois, ranging from gruff bellows to chilling wails that are oddly reminiscent of ‘Into The Pandemonium’ era Tom G. Warrior.
‘Nadir’ is soon to be released as a limited run of 100 cassettes, and you can also purchase a digital copy of the album for a mere £3 via Nadir’s Bandcamp page. If you have any interest in doom, sludge and psychedelic music whatsoever, this album comes highly recommended, so kick back, relax, and lose yourself in the heady atmosphere of ‘Nadir’ below…

NINEHERTZ
Just look at that cover image, woah. There's no face displayed on that cloaked figure's face but I'll be damned if I didn't think it was looking straight into my soul.

Ok, the music, think about the music. It's been touted as 'murk' among other labels and that word sums it up. Low, hanging notes and a dark, smeared sound, it brings forth memories of that once-popular genre of funeral doom, but sped up. Jeremie from Dead In The Woods/Beast As God is on vocals here but uses a clean tone clusterfucked to space with the use of delay pedals and he noodles endlessly on a theremin, making the whole process spaced out and Hawkwind-like in parts.

Guitars and drums are courtesy of ex-Army Of Flying Robots Andy and Henry respectively and bass duties are handled by Tanya of Bismuth, who is also ex-Diet Pills, so you get the dark, feedback-enriched corner this band come from. During tracks like Mechanique Celeste there's periods of relative calm but it's soon dragged back into a dirty, tar-pit like sticky drag. Jeremie sounds as though he is proclaiming the end times through a megaphone at times, you can imagine them playing this to confuse people in the event of a riot.

Lyrics on the doom-like Antenna Collapse talk of the 'digital noose' and similarly misanthropic topics all while the guitar and bass create a swirling thick goop. you can imagine at the centre of this particular maelstrom there is no hope, only emptiness. It's really rather profound and original, listen, because soon there's going to be nothing left.