Artist: Acausal Intrusion
Album: Nulitas
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Release Date: 21/05/2021
Country: United States
Written by James Sweetlove
We look at Acausal Intrusion and their debut full-length album, set for release on May 21st on I, Voidhanger Records.
The band hail from the United States and a collaborative duo made up of Cave Ritual (drums, vocals, and rhythmic eroding disruptions) and Nythroth (guitar, bass, keyboards, backing vocals, chants, and sinister spells of chaos). The duo are part of other fantastic projects such as Evaporated Sores, Nothing is Real, Obsidian Hooves, Feral Lord etc., so without directly naming them to maintain some level of mystique I’ll let you figure out who they are. The incredible album art is courtesy of the legendary Daniele Valeriani (Mayhem, Triptykon, Behemoth). The recording was split between Malevolent Sound studio, Los Angeles and The Cave, Mississippi. The album was mixed and mastered by Nythroth at Malevolent Sound studio.
The band made the following statement:
“The acausal realm is the source of all true life,” explains Nythroth; “it lays beyond our causal world and is inhabited by ancient entities and chaotic energies usually too terrifying for humans to behold. Their intrusion into our reality can spark an alchemical process of transformation through which the individuals emerge on the other side with renewed self-consciousness.” These themes can be felt throughout the album, which takes you to dark and unsettling places, stimulating your brain in ways that not that many albums are able to. This shouldn’t surprise you when you remember that this is an I, Voidhanger release, a label that consistently puts out mind altering, soul crushing music.
The band have a dark and chaotic energy that would definitely be best described as dissonant. Well actually dissonant would be an understatement in this case. The music presented here actually confuses your brain, it knows all of these sounds, but they don’t feel or sound right in the way that they’re being presented. Everything has a swirling, swooning feel to it, like you’re caught in some sort of maelstrom of death metal that you can’t get your bearings inside and you’re being pummeled from every direction. The focus of the album is evenly split between chaotic energy and all-consuming atmosphere, a perfect storm to suck the listener in and to keep them there, fully engaged and immersed. The use of short atmospheric tracks in between many of the songs on the album are a great addition and help to further develop that atmosphere.
The snare drum on the album is absolutely insane, honestly its unlike anything else I’ve heard before. It presents the listener with a constant barrage that pierces through the chaotic guitar, bass, keyboard and vocals due to its higher pitch/tone and everything else being relatively downtuned and guttural. The guitar tone comes through as crackled and distorted and shifts from having the energy of a swarm of locusts to being slow, heavy and sullen. Much of the atmosphere on the album comes from a mix between the guitar and keyboard work, which gives it a depressive and unsettling undertone. The vocals on the release are guttural, faded and distorted and sit somewhere in the realm of acts such as Ulcerate, a band that shares some major similarities with this project.
So overall, if you like your music to be dissonant and suffocating them this will most likely be for you. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then you may struggle with this one or maybe just take some time to warm to it. Personally, I loved it from start to finish and found that its dark and chaotic nature gave it a unique charm and stimulated me in a way that many albums simply cannot. Put simply this is a release that definitely won’t be for everyone, but for those than can endure its unrelenting punishment, the rewards will be a level of stimulation and immersion that is often sought, but rarely found.
Listen to and order the album below:
Bandcamp:
https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/nulitas
Order the album:
