Nithing are a side and solo project by Vitriol‘s drummer, Matt Kilner. Vitriol‘s style of all out, one-gear barbarity should appeal to me, but somehow never clicked. The trouble is that, if you want to be constantly pushing forward, you got to have the variety and the raw supply of ideas to fill a whole album without losing the listener. Nithing could fall into a similar category, but it seems like Kilner knows how to draw from the Brutal Death Metal playbook endlessly—and beyond.
The core sound on Agonal Hymns is reminiscent of abstract Brutal Death Metal acts like Wormed, but also reminds me of early Brutal Death Metal forerunners Devourment in regards to sound, and Disgorge in how constantly amorphous and disorienting the album is. Other bands would call this Avantgarde—and dare I say, were the sound more trebly and slathered with a Black Metal coating, likely more appealing to the hipster crowd. The breadth of techniques within the “always fast, always brutal” framework is quite impressive and even shows an interesting approach to texture. Kilner contrasts between sections not only in how he plays them but also in what area of the frequency spectrum the sections occupy. I am unsure whether he uses sample-enhancement throughout Agonal Hymns to produce a more extravagant guitar tone sometimes or whether this sound comes via guitar pedals, as sometimes the guitar tone reaches with odd reverberations and frequency shifts. Seemingly disconnected, those leads will often layer over the barbaric instrumental performance below, making Agonal Hymns occasionally sound otherworldly, not unlike the Giger-ian flesh abomination on the cover. Make no mistake though: this album is dense and complicated and far from easy listening. Compared to a more fun oriented and groovy offering like Dehumanizing Itatrain Worship, Nithing fall quite the opposite end of the BDM spectrum.
