28 November 2023
Nihil is the 6th album of Impaled Nazarene, one of Finland’s most filthy bands. The band has been producing intense punk/grindcore influenced black metal poison, laced with threatening and disturbing lyrics, since 1990. Mika Luttinen, the founder and visionary of the band, prefers to define their music as nuclear metal.
Lyrics are usually secondary to the music for me. In that respect, I have held many albums which don’t offer much lyrical-wise in high esteem. If this were not the case, it would not be possible to honor groups such as Cannibal Corpse, whose only written purpose is to attack censorship and the mainstream. If we knew that Chris Barnes really wanted to do what he said in the lyrics, many of us would undoubtedly start to question the band and their music. However, on the contrary, the lyrics of some albums/songs are so valuable to you that from time to time, when you want to describe or shout out your experiences, those words immediately come to your mind. In this album, Impaled Nazarene – as in many of its other albums – falls outside of both categories. They advocate filth, intolerance, cruelty. Anyway, we’ll come back here at the end.
Mika and his pals have been in constant motion since the first album. Their music has always been harsh, but they managed to achieve a unique style in their career, which they started with a sound close to pure black metal. The intense punk/grindcore influences they infuse into their music serve as the key to shaping this style. Mika’s screaming vocals add the spice.
Let’s get back to Nihil. Jarno (who is no longer in the band) and Alexi from Children Of Bodom (R.I.P.) played guitars in the album. In the first song, Cogito Ergo Sum, a riff from Alexi’s pre-COB band was also used. Mika, one of the good vocalists of his genre, dominates the listener with a dictatorial vocal style throughout the album. Punk influences show where many black metal bands who have recently adapted crossover elements like crust into their music have taken their inspiration from. The album, which has the consistency of a rabies epidemic, makes the listener smile with every piece, and excites the listener to a terrible extent, leaving him/her in rapture. The album never gives up on melody. Second song Human Proof is a great example of this. Likewise, I can tell songs such as Cogito Ergo Sum, Assault The Weak and How The Laughter Died as good examples to this melody use. Great musicianship, short and concise guitar solos and especially the prominent use of bass guitar are the significant advantages of the album.
Let’s get back to controversial album lyrics and specifically the song “Zero Tolerance”. In this piece, Mika openly attacked sexual preferences and made loving comments such as not being ‘straight’ is a disgusting thing and these people deserve gang rape. Naturally, it garnered a lot of reaction. The band has faced criticism throughout its career for its militaristic, racist views, and Nihil is currently banned from official sales in Germany.
The album cover also suits the reputation of the band. A sadomasochistic scene with a goat figure. A homely atmosphere is depicted 🙂 The album, which in my opinion is just a bunch of garbage in a lyrical sense, is a real gem in terms of music. Finally; “Angel Rectums Still Bleed” (!) is the horniest and hottest song of the album. Don’t miss it out.
8,5/10