Tech Death Thursday: NYN

December 4, 2014

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Your face has prematurely melted with no warning because it knew what band I was featuring this week.

Today we’re talking about a band called NYN who have just recently released a new album titled Eventuality that is slowly but surely inching it’s way into my top ten albums of the year. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s already in the top ten. Now it’s just a matter of how high it will climb. Seriously, I’m not looking forward to picking a top ten. Every day my list fluctuates a bit and these guys aren’t making that any easier. Oh did I say guys? I meant guy. This fucking amazing band is ONE GUY. NYN is what you would get if Sophicide and Destrage had a baby and those two babies collaborated on a progressive technical death metal album. Oh sorry, did you want like a song or something? Well, I guess I can allow it:

So, obviously you can see where I got the Sophicide comparison from, but you may be wondering where the Destrage comparison came from. At certain parts in the album, the vocals get really wacky and definitely recall the vocals in Destrage. It is at these parts that the songs also pick up a really spastic nature, another quality of the aforementioned band. Noyan, NYN’s vocalist according to bandcamp, is a really talented dude. The vocals on the album range from guttural brutal death metal-type vocals to high pitched deathcore-type wails and everywhere in between. It’s extremely refreshing to hear an album with this sort of maniacal vocal variety. Noyan doesn’t stop being badass with the vocals though. He goes all out. The drumming, the riffs, the guitars, and even the production on this album are nothing short of spectacular. There are a few guest appearances like the one by Christian Muezner in “Blind Sight”, but it’s mostly just Noyan. It may be only one guy, but this one guy just dropped an album that is, in my honest opinion, top 5 material and worthy of much more attention. If you dig these TDT posts, then you will dig this band. If you think I’m wrong about this, we can meet in the interrogation room at noon and I will steal your lunch money and buy a copy of this album for you with it.

Was that not enough for you? My my aren’t you the greedy one? Lucky for you Detective McNulty has something to help quench your covetous thirst for more metal. I should also point out that he used his detective skills to find a band that I didn’t know about. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go yell at some of my contacts for slacking.

McNulty: So, what IS technical death metal? Have we just slipped into a position in which we declare that upon hearing a bunch of weedilys? Well, we’re talking about TECHNIQUE here: it is essentially an opportunity for skilled musicians to flex their muscles while staying within the death metal subgenre. Some musicians go all Yngwie on us, while others are able to show off the skillz without the need to jump into the spotlight and demand the brightness be turned up (I guess I could try to come up with some kind of sports metaphor… something something something Kobe?). Not only that, technical doesn’t have to mean weedilys; I say we could easily include the SKRONK! (Jack note: YES PLEASE)

I want to introduce you to Sarpanitum, from Birmingham, UK. So we’ve all been best friends since at least July (The Great Migration) and I feel quite confident that most of you will be completely sold on the band. Their EP Fidelium (2011) brings all of the elements that we have come to know and love. Fidelium is the crossroads of death, black, and skronk; with equal parts technicality and songwriting. It’s a melting pot of all things excellent, which I will try to describe as follows:

Melancholic tremolo-picking riffs akin to Blut Aus Nord and Portal, accentuated with some Gorguts-ian SKRONK. The guitar solos are quite reminiscent of modern Immolation, as in they’re not too shreddy and focus more on melody. It’s not all about dissonance though, as there are plenty of slower, emotionally-charged melodic portions that are in fact quite memorable. I’m not talking clean vocals, mind you, but melodies similar to what you’d find in the occasional Deathspell Omega (Paracletus) or Marduk (Wormwood) track. The best instance would be the last 1:20 of “Before the Walls” (listen below), which leads perfectly into a dark, ambient track. The production of the EP is muddy enough to be trve, which is quite a breath of fresh air from the all-too common sterile sound of most modern technical death metal bands. They have a new album titled Blessed Be My Brothers coming out February 15. You can buy the EP for 3 GBP and pre-order the new album here, and it’s worth every … whatever those goofy British call pennies.