NEFAS Oblation ov Obliteration Review
Nefas
Oblation ov Obliteration
Self-Released
In 2025 recording technology allows for many bands to operate remotely or at least meet up after they have culled together the song ideas to put them down in a studio. Cross country newcomers Nefas are no exception, and their latest 3 song EP Oblation ov Obliteration wields some very favorable results.
Nefas feature in their ranks members of Teeth, Bedlam of Cacophony and Wax People. Their individual pedigrees suggest that they have very adept players across the technical, the dissonant and especially the mathematical spectrums of extreme metal. Upon repeated listens, it’s as if they set out to create songs that bend the mind, invoke unease or to just unravel reality as we know it. Their bio puts them the “psychocosmic deathgrind” category, but I feel that tagline doesn't do them justice. There are certainly those kind of moments (blast beats, screeching vocals, tremolo picked guitar passages), but I feel that there are also equal parts dissonant hardcore, thrash and groove powered death metal. The vocals are also just as varied, as there are gruff shouts, earth shattering gutturals and gravelly highs of which are not uncommon on many black metal albums. It's definitely a mixed bag of influences, but what Nefas do so well is weave in and out of them pretty naturally and none of the sections sound thrown in or jarringly out of place. These songs are carefully crafted and calculated.
The production is pretty spot on and clean. With material like this that shifts in and out of not only genres but also extremely varied in tempo is no easy feat. The entire affair was produced, engineered, and edited by Samur Khouja at Seahorse Sound Studios in Los Angeles, California, with mixing and mastered by Erol Ulug at Bright Lights Studio. The lumbering start stop groove of closer ‘Mindstream Transference” is definitely a standout replete with those scary sounding inverted chord voicings that all the newjack metalcore bands have adopted for nearly two decades on now, but here they sound fresh and aid in the overall mood of this tune. This is not to say that Nefas rest on those laurels either. Oh no. One only need to listen to opener “Xenomorphic” and its raging speed and thrashy guitar beginnings to dispel that notion.
Nefas are an exciting and enjoyable addition to what I affectionately refer to as “spacey death grind”. What do I mean by that? Well to put it in simpler terms, if you find yourself pining for a band that combines the best elements of the earlier works of Cephalic Carnage, Gojira, Coalesce, Intronaut and the early 90’s guitar wheetles and whistles of Seattle's Forced Entry, then you will surely dig this. Forward thinking material like this that is as chaotic as it is memorable and catchy will ensure their place in the pantheon of “left of center” metal for years to come. Now how about a full length soon guys?
~TB