Black Shape Of Nexus - Negative Black (Album Review)
Wednesday, 09 May 2012
Written by Ben Bland
How can one describe Black Shape of Nexus? Imagine you took an early Mastodon song, played it half the way through and then thought you’d stretch out the enjoyment a bit…so you stuck it on Cubase and made it about six times longer than it actually was. That is a little bit like what Black Shape of Nexus sound like. They have the same punishing reliance on horrifically overdriven distorted guitar; you know the sort, it makes you feel like someone has hit you several times in the gut with a hammer. Sludgy though this is however, where Black Shape of Nexus stands out from the crowd is with their drone influences.
Things start off reasonably. The first three songs are only about six and a half minutes long each. Things are flying by, even if turning the volume up loud makes one slightly concerned that there dinner may be about to end up all over the floor. '10000 µF' is where the really
extreme stuff gets going. Clocking in at nineteen minutes, Black Shape of Nexus pummel you into utter submission with their seemingly never ending waves of sonically destructive guitar. Then they rein things back in just a little with '14d' which, at only eleven minutes, counts as only moderately lengthy. In truth though, even despite the spacey sludge cocktail interludes that crop along every now and then, this is almost completely unremitting horror from start to finish.
Most readers are probably wondering why the hell anyone would want to listen to this album based upon my description. Well, for some of us, the devastating power of sound is one of its most appealing facets. 'Negative Black' is, at times, painful to listen to but the effect it has on you is stronger than most of the drugs you could ever try. Take closer 'Neg. Black', a twenty-two minute journey into the darkest recesses of the brain. It may hurt a bit but 'Negative Black' is really worth getting your claws into if you dare.
'Negative Black' is out now via Exile on Mainstream.
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Things start off reasonably. The first three songs are only about six and a half minutes long each. Things are flying by, even if turning the volume up loud makes one slightly concerned that there dinner may be about to end up all over the floor. '10000 µF' is where the really
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