Halalnihil - Global Uterus Annihilation (2012)

Band: Halalnihil
Country: Pest Megye, Hungary
Style: Blackened Noise/Power Electronics
Label: Independent

It's a little strange to me that the further one goes into the style of black metal, the less "black" it becomes and the more experimental acts you find. This new project was sent to me by the main man himself and really did something I didn't expect to hear. It was certainly a unique little project and one that I knew I had to cover.
When I was first told about this project I was told that it was a mix between power electronics, harsh noise, and raw black metal, and to be honest, as much as I find it hard to really rely on what an artist describes their own music as sounding like, that wasn't too far off the mark in this case. This is an intense barrage of noise that rarely relents. Most of the tracks tend to be under three minutes, pumping out quick spurts of various fusions of the genres mentioned above. While every track presents a different take on those genres, whether they're being fused together or are more individualistic excursions on the single genre, you get everything from your typical screaming into a distorted mic with tons of feedback backing it up to piercing noise (and feedback) interrupting spasms of black metal. It honestly sounded like some decided to throw Prurient, early Mayhem demos and the classic trilogy of Darkthrone records, and the first couple of Agoraphobic Nosebleed records into a meat-grinder and churn out these ideas before dumping the results into a blender. I know that may sound a bit convoluted and strange, but it's a really bizarre sounding project, and that's one of the easiest ways I could really describe it.
I can't say that all the ideas present on here are great, as with most projects of this sort of style, songs that are under a minute, or even under two, don't really leave too much of an impression. Longer tracks tend to explore more territory and present more of a well rounded and complete idea instead of a single statement. Not to say that the short tracks are lacking in terms of ideas, each one does show at least a willingness to both stay true to a genre's conventions while exploring a bit more. Personally, I wasn't too fond of some of the drum programming on here because it sounds way too mechanical for my own personal taste, in addition to the speeds its playing at (which is why I referenced Agoraphobic Nosebleed above), I just couldn't get into it. Granted, all of these minor complaints do help to make up the sound of the project and help to create a sound that I really can't say I've heard before. There are certainly moments where I kind of hear a bit of Ash Pool or Sutekh Hexen, but those are only minor at best. This album tends to favor the noise and power electronics side over the black metal one though.
Chances are if you like your music intense, noisy, and distorted beyond recognition, you'll really enjoy this. Because of how underground it is, I really don't see a whole lot of people checking this out (hopefully at least a couple people will get into it from this review), but those who are open to styles like the ones I mentioned will find a project/album that was well worth checking out. There are a lot of projects now that are doing the whole noise and black metal fusion, but this is definitely one of the better ones.
Overall Score: 8
Highlights: Iron Rain On Your Father's Grave, Fogyatékos Megerőszakolása, Mourning Saints Watching My Erection, Állatkínzók, Gyerekgyilkosok, Visszatérő Álmok