Nominon, The Cleansing

Man, there has been a ton of death metal tossed into the wild the past couple of years. From the true-to-form old school variety leaning heavily on Entombed or other Swedish luminaries to overly-produced, technical mayhem, there has been more than enough evil variety for even the most fickle of fans. Nominon’s fifth full-length (check out our review of their last release, Monumentomb) of their 20 year existence falls in the middle, belting out fetid, rotten death/thrash like their lives depended upon it.

There’s nothing clean or pristinely produced about The Cleansing. This is an album presented fairly raw with plenty of aggressive and frantic death metal hurled about as violently as possible. As a result there are moments here and there where the band gets a little messy — a bit too loose and unhinged for their own good. But, all in all, the 10 tracks (opening instrumental included) deliver the goods with a solid old school flair.

After the nearly one minute long intro, the guys let you know what this album is all about with “In the Name of Gomorrah” with a high paced and frenzied delivery of thick, burly guitars (minus the prototypical buzz saw of Entombed or Dismember) and barbaric rhythms. “Mausoleum” is a solid track if a bit forgettable, but the band are sure to bring you back around with the absolutely thrashing and bestial “Unholy Sacrifice.” It’s got a familiar sound, one that I remember from way back in the, but can’t seem to place my finger on it — maybe Acts of the Unspeakable era Autopsy?. At any rate, it’s fast, furious and evil as fuck.

The instrumental title track keeps the bludgeoning coming with unrelenting drum work and driving riffs while “Abhorrent Parasites” infects you with a slightly blackened edge to its second half. “Hellwitch” is a stand out track that takes a moment to build, but unleashes massive riffs and a lurching rhythm. It’s a hell of a dark song. “Obliteration” contains some doomy influences as the guys plunder your skull and “Son of Doom” doesn’t really contain all that much doom, but instead deals a healthy dose of a blackened death metal.

The Cleansing needs no cleansing of its own. It’s an album that delivers festering death metal as violently and as bluntly as possible. Cleaning things up would only take away from the album’s overall appeal. And, really, I don’t think it would be as good an album either. As it stands, Nominon’s latest helping of death is just what the lovable, maniacal sociopath in me requires.