Day: February 14, 2017

The fascination exerted by the Egyptian civilization towards the musicians who move in the metal field is certainly not a novelty: leaving aside the inevitable reference to Nile, there are many bands that, often with excellent results, are able to merge the extreme matter with the traditional sounds originating in the North African country (last treated in order of time were the excellent Akhenaten). The case of Nekhen, however, is different both for origin and for mode: it is in fact an Italian solo project and here the ethnic component is welcomed within a musical form approached to doom rather than death or black, thanks to rather slow rhythms (except for some remarkable percussive progressions) and a low and menacing riffing that, often, goes hand in hand with the most canonical acoustic sounds. The result is remarkable, even if not simply digestible, both because the assimilation of certain sounds is not so obvious for anyone, both for its nature entirely instrumental and, just to return to Nile, it might be useful to refer more than the work of the band to the solo works of the leader Karl Sanders, especially for the approach to the matter, since the two Saurian published by the American guitarist show a face mostly acoustic, in addition to occasional vocal interventions. Equal are without doubt the passion and the competence exhibited towards the matter, essential components to make credible an operation of this kind: also for this reason I think that, although there is not much in common, if not the reference to the Egyptian civilization, with works such as Annihilation Of The Gates, is just that of the admirers of these sounds the group of listeners who can be more easily reached by these three quarters of an hour of excellent music, divided for convenience in twelve tracks despite it is, in fact, a long suite; so you just have to immerse yourself in this ideal exploration of the eternal dwellings of the pharaohs, accompanied by the uninterrupted and enveloping flow of sound of Entering The Gate Of The Western Horizon.

2017 – Independent