n0n

True brilliance does not come easy in metal or in music more broadly. It takes a band's ability to gather a variety of heterogeneous influences, and through a focused momentum ripe with maturity and inspiration, the ability to define one coherent, unique sound.

Here The Amenta put the energy and speed from the death/black metal world together with the brutality and violence of industrial sound. The tracks have a rawness in their drive, filtered with the clinical and cold precision of metal and digital post-processing.

At times it's genuinely difficult to distinguish the guitar riffing from the electronic arrangements, as they deliberately made the processed-sounding guitars play robot-like parts - in particular the syncopated tremolo picking with the sudden stops. They're a mix of essentially low down-tuned distorted bass notes and screeching dissonant highs and rather contribute to the overall ambiance than define the songs entirely as guitars usually do in metal. They're utilized as just one of many elements in the mix instead of being the sole backbone of the song upon which all the rest would be added.

The drums are tight and punchy and utterly present in the mix and avoid overly complicated patterns to emphasize that clarity in the tracks. Toms are extremely rare for example, as to not clog up the sound. To be fair, the drums are basically the double kicks, rapid fire machineguns of robotic accuracy - with the snare keeping the beat and there's little going on behind the kit besides those rhythmic conductors. The blast beats are particularly potent and could only be described as machine-like; one giant drum device relentlessly punishing the listener with its inhuman metronomic perfection. Few blast beats sound this destructive and uncompromising.

The samples and soundscapes beef up the mix in adding more complexion and texture to the already ominous atmosphere, and instill a sense of absolute dread and an exciting anxiety building throughout the songs and record. They're judiciously inserted into the songs as they don't overcrowd the primary components and appear in the background while still being fully audible and effective.

The vocals are the only way they could be: absolutely scornful, as they combine the aggression of industrial with the bark-like format of death/black metal vocals. The lyrics are spat out in abrupt distorted aphorisms; terribly pessimistic and contemptuous.

The album shines just as much with its excellent sound production as with its composition. Song-writing wise, this is just top notch material for any musician. The songs were put together with great composure and thought. There's no rush. No self-indulgence. The album really pushes its own boundaries and never settles for basic versions of its formula. It builds complex ensembles within its project, with cleverly selected intros, carefully and masterfully crafted verses and choruses with crushing or ominous interludes. They really make each section count. Each song delivers its own message and separates itself from the others. There's a clear identity to each song and the album all in all covers a good chunk of its potential and explores its own universe seamlessly as it displays a broad selection to pick from. Each song isn't just a mere reshuffling from the exact same cards in a different order.

In conclusion the album is as impressive sounding as it is conceptually accomplished, artistically thought provoking and brilliantly composed. It's a vertiginous dive into an underground nightmare of post-apocalyptic trans-humanism through sound and the vivid imagery it conjures. It's deep and articulate, unique and ripe with its disturbingly satisfying flavor, and impressively executed as a whole. Definitely one of the most accomplished albums in the realm of anything sci-fi/post-apocalyptic/industrial/horror soundscape.

I pity this album. Like it wasn’t enough for it to be living in the shadows of their debut masterpiece Occasus where the band themselves set such a high standard for themselves. But I digress. This is yet another beautifully twisted psychotic masterwork of industrial death metal and let no one else tell you otherwise. The Amenta is still at the top of their game and believe, I am yet to find another band that sounds quite like them. All the previous elements of the band’s music are still there in place, but in a more bizarre, industrial and twisted fashion, if that’s even possible.

Even though the band at the very beginning, dialed the intensity up to fucking 11 while never letting up for even a second, this album doesn’t have much of the straightforward industrial blackened death metal assault of their debut. There is a very noticeable influence of samples and raw noise interspersed among the songs which make this album an even more hellish experience. (Of course I mean that in the best way possible). Like a lot of bands out there, The Amenta have their share of interlude tracks to give you a breathing space from the brutality and madness of the heavier songs. This album is a complete mindfuck through and through and there are times where the industrial influences overshadow the metal aspects of the album; such is the factory, machine-like atmosphere of this album.

As I already said, the straightforwardness of the debut has been replaced with a pulsating eerie vibe in the form of the fucked-up keys brought to you by Timothy Pope in the form of slow build-ups, haunting and mystical soundscapes and dragging siren-like noises. My profound apologies if that sentence sounded haphazardly constructed and a bit grammatically malformed to you, but surely you get the drift. This guy is the shit seriously. He himself has said in an interview that he approaches the keys in a very different way as compared to most other keyboardists and that he would always look to make the music as twisted and ugly as humanly possible ignoring all possible harmonic and melodic grandeur that the keys are generally known for. Well I can tell you to an absolute certainty that it is extremely evident in the music. Even though every single band member puts their own unique stamp on this monster of an album, it wouldn't be far-fetched at all to claim that Pope plays a great part in making the music of nOn what it is. Take the keys out of the equation and clearly this album probably wouldn't even have half the destructive impact that it currently has. He enhances the mental asylum-esque atmosphere of the album like no other. For a perfect example, check out "Whore", "Slave" and "Dirt". One of the very few albums where the keys play an integral and unifying part in conjuring up the twisted atmosphere of this album, which is the most important thing that sets it apart from Occasus.

Honestly the guitars were pretty much off the wall even on their debut album, but Christ on a fucking pogo stick, I honestly didn't expect them to completely notch up and transform their sound to such an extent. Here the guitars are even more technical, dissonant and jarring that probably anything you've ever heard with a heck of a lot of chugging, maniacally played stop-start riffs, inhuman bends and apocalyptic doomy riffs along with a bit of tremolo picking in the mix as well. Talk about variety! Listen to "Junky", "Spine" and "Vermin" to get a proper idea of what I mean. Absolutely fucking nuts. You will take several listens to even comprehend some of the songs, forget digging them. I seriously cannot stress this enough. A lot, I repeat a LOT of patience is required for this album. Each of their albums have the same/similar elements yet sound corrosively different and viciously chaotic in their own way. It takes true artistic inspiration and genius to reinvent yourself with every album without sounding pretentious or fake/phony and clearly The Amenta have that knack in spades without question. Even the vocals are all over the map with the usual death metal growls, black metal screeches and occasionally whispered vocals for a haunting effect. Yep you read the last bit right and believe me, it doesn't sound corny in the least. If anything it adds to the general depraved atmosphere of this album. For a truly haunting experience, check out "Cancer". If that doesn't make you think of dying in the most horrific and unnatural way, then nothing will. Even the interludes (where Timothy really showcases his absurd chops) "Atropy" and "Entropy" and "Skin" aren't there simply to fill up space, they do have a singular point and purpose - to mindfuck you into pure insanity. Period. Just like the rest of the album in case you were wondering.

However the band really throw one hell of a curve-ball with the last track "Rape" which starts off on a chaotic note, but after the third minute, there are a few seconds of silence followed by a doomy riff almost melancholic in its delivery only to swerve back into hard-hitting riffs which slowly give way to a haunting underlying melody as the songs ends. What a goddamn album! I'm honestly drained out; think I need to listen to some jazz or bossa to sooth my nerves.

If you're looking for challenging, varied extreme metal with a smattering of death, black and industrial woven together in the most unnatural, experimental and twisted way, you now know exactly where to look. Get your hands on this underrated gem now! You need it.

The Amenta are a band from Sydney, Australia mostly well known for their unrelenting brutality, otherworldly synthetics, and multi-faceted musical influences. Shrouded in obscurity, The Amenta is particularly revered for their lack of catering to a certain following, playing a highly potent fusion of black metal, death metal, grind, all drenched in an industrial pool of ambience. Chaotic, yet controlled, its very clear that The Amenta isnt a band that wants just anyone to listen. This is extremely apparent on their latest release, entitled "n0n".

If you have been following this group as long as I have (about 5 years now since thier debut) then you might have an understanding on how The Amenta operates. Their debut album of 2004, "Occacus", took the face of extreme metal and burned it off with a blowtorch. Occacus quickly became a highly-acclaimed juggernaut loved by many fans for its totalitarian control of everything brutal, rivaling their fellow countrymen The Berzerker in the "fastest, most brutal" category in metal that borderlined on the ludacris. Top all of this off with an absolutely terrifying apocalyptic soundscape, (orchestrated by sonic terrorist, band founder, and keyboard mastermind Timothy Pope) and you had a serious band that did not fuck around when it came to mature, almost avante garde extreme music.

Fast forward to 4 years later and we now have the second offering, called "n0n". Many fans have felt alienated, or even duped by The Amenta for the complete left-field sound of the new album. Many people have even complained that n0n is a bit too artistic compared to Occacus.

The truth of the matter is that while, yes, n0n is a bit more high-brow in concept than Occacus, it not only sounds like The Amenta, it practically embodies the band itself. The concept, imagery, sound and overall direction of n0n is emblazoned in The Amenta's conception, with the overall theme being a solid, nihilistic and barbaric rebellion to modern society. The sound itself being a complete antithesis to most of the carbon-copy shit streaming through speakers.

Lyrical subjects follow suite to the music's audio-nihilism with themes of religion, media, overpopulation, well-being, philosophy, prostitution, and humanity's downfall. The tone of the lyrical content is unquestionably a strong acrid disgust towards all of the above. I am personally a huge fan of The Amenta's lyrical content on all of their releases, more-so on n0n because its gritty. Its REAL. Its all the problems with humanity without all the political punk monotony. Its apocalyptic nihilism in its purest form, with The Amenta offering total eradication of the human race as its final solution. How can you not want to kill people in general with lyrics like:

"Asleep at the wheel/coasting in neutral/psyche mirrored in a crash victim's fender"

"This is the media junky/humanity's dry husk/incapable of abstract thought/on-off-on-off

"You are primitive design/nothing but base-urges/a flight-and flee reflex/you are vermin....fucking and feeding/there is only reaction."

"We are water dripping from rusted taps/ We are dirt."

The music is a bit different this time around, taking a detour from the speed/brutality formula of Occacus and taking more of a focus on shifting rhythms and beats, with violent, headbanging groove of "Junky" to the skull-rattling blast of "Vermin", the nausea-inducing slow churn of "Slave". This album has it all. Vocals range from low/medium/high all with a clarity of anunciation and raspy, gutteral hate. Guitars are all over the place, but with positive tight control, grinding with speed, dripping with gore and black with tremolo pitch. There's even small amounts of albeit-evil sounding melody (Spine). The Amenta has a signature and impressive guitar sound that has a very futuristic, cold and mechanical vibe to it. Bass is heavy and nice in the mix. The drumming is simply superb, as should be expected from a drummer that plays in The Amenta. There are polyrhythms galore, and he shifts speeds like a machine-gun/deisel engine/jackhammer hybrid, with sporadic snare blasts, inhuman kick patterns, and unfathomed speed. The real prize to the sound is the keys. I cant stress enough how important the synthetics are to The Amenta's unique sound. Normally I find keyboards to be extremely lame, but these arent your sparkly Children Of Bodom/Dimmu Borgir synths. Nor is it the stupid "eerie" keys of Necrophagia. This is ambient, apocalyptic chaos, with buildups and releases of total ominous terror. I have never heard such armageddon from a keyboard player.

Guest vocals come from a star-studded list of extreme music's finest, be it techno, ambience, metal, dub, etc. with Behemoth's mainman Nergal providing backing on "Slave", Akercocke's Jason Mendonca providing spoken word on "Whore" and Sir Alice playing the role of a prostitute on the spoken word/instrumental, "Skin".

Overall I find n0n to be a very impressive evolution from 2004's Occacus. With Occacus, The Amenta showed everyone they were a force to respect, outweighing everyone with absolute vengeance. 2008's n0n is a mature, dark, and highly evolved album that showcases sonic terrorism and astonishing violence. As challenging as the album is, and the high level of open-minded capacity it takes to understand it, it is in my opinion THE most extreme album of all time.

Anyone looking for a truely "heavy" industrial band need look no further than The Amenta. The band's B-flat assault mixed with synth/noise undertones as heard on their debut "Occasus" was enough to get my head banging. Which brings us to their second full length, "n0n". I can guarantee there will be mixed feelings about this work among Amenta and metal fans in general. There are some great tracks, some truely bizzare ones, and many elements (good and bad) from a few different genres.

If you're a seasoned fan and loved Occasus, I can't guarantee you'll enjoy this one. Both have an entirely different atmosphere about them. If Occasus was the soundtrack to a universal galactic apocalypse, then n0n is for Special Forces armed with semi-automatics mowing down parasites in a poorly-lit warehouse. The band went for an almost entirely industrial/noise style. They also relied quite heavily on the noise, thus letting the guitars fall into a repetitive chug. The verse riff to opening song "Junky" sounds amazing and throaty, but you'll be feeling a bit of deja vu when you hear the same thing again in the track "Whore". The synth patterns tend to repeat in several songs as well. The band's new vocalist also tends to do a lot of HXC/metalcore-style screams which can be a quite a turn-off to fans of true death metal vocals. The less-than-two-minutes-long noise tracks will disappoint those looking for straight metal.

However, you take the bad with the good, and there are indeed some great moments to be heard here. This is easily some of the steadiest double-bass drumming ever recorded. Junky is a massive wall of pure excellence, and you will be deemed a "wuss" if the song Vermin doesn't make you want to shoot some shit up with an M16. The song Cancer is particularly eerie; it makes me think of someone dying in a hospital bed. Whether industrial or death metal is your thing, give this one a try.

I have been looking for a band to implement true industrial sounds with death metal for quite some time and boy does this album deliver. Imagine factories and machinery pounding with a terminator vibe, now put death metal into the mix.

The ratio of metal to industrial is nearly perfect in this album, about 60% to 40%. Most songs always have some ominous industrial synthesizer or pounding metallic machine from hell in the background. While listening, I was constantly thinking to myself “Holy crap, this is awesome.” It’s one of those albums.

The music itself substitutes some of the complexity of most death metal and goes for a more hardcore approach; however this is entirely necessary to fit in all the awesome industrial noise which gives the album its atmosphere.

The vocals on this album could have been better. They are mostly the hardcore shouts filled with angst that make you wish that you had some proper death growls. Though, after a while I got used to them and they become acceptable.

Since I loved the industrial sound-scapes, I was hooked on this from start to finish. Every song on this album was very good so it’s hard to pick any distinct winners.

Not everyone is going to think as highly of this album as I am though. Some may feel it’s a little scattered in the sounds and ideas, however, as a seasoned industrial listener I actually found it pretty straight forward and think it flows very well. I would assume it would take time for those not used to experimental noise to understand the cohesiveness of it all. If you find yourself thinking this, I would suggest giving it more time.

If you don’t really care about industrial music and are looking for something progressive or technical, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for real industrial noise such as older Skinny Puppy combined with metal, this album is essential.

Recently the death metal scene has seen a few bands pick up industrial/electronic influences, attempting to mix the styles together to create a more modern sound. However, this has not worked yet, and this album is another example of "coming up short". My score for this album does not reflect some sort of hate I hold for the album. Or some sort of grudge I may have against a musician. This album is a 50/100 for a reason. It's just average. It is enjoyable at parts, forgettable in other ways.

According to the press releases for this, the band used multiple studios and band members to record all this, and at times the album sounds like just that. No, the sound isn't wildly different or anything, it's that the album doesn't sound coherent. Many times, the songs do not match up well together, causing the listener to lose interest. Worse still, some passages in this album lack the ability to hook onto the listener, sounding more like experiments in random noise than a structured song. I appreciate the ideas involved, however. I believe if done right, industrial death metal can be quite a brutal force. The Amenta does get things right at times, the ending to the final track "Rape" is pretty atmospheric and haunting, nothing like I would expect a song called Rape to sound like. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work well, and you're left wondering why. The drumming is nothing special, it sounds a lot like Blut aus Nord's syncopated mechanical drum programming, with lots of perfectly-timed double bass kicks. That's a style that isn't always to my liking, and wrapped up together, the album is very underwhelming.

It would be unfair, however, to tell you to stay away from this album. It's not all bad, and if you're a fan of industrialized metal music, then you'll most likely enjoy this. For me, it's underwhelming in most phases, an album that has great ideas but doesn't quite execute it well enough to work. In that aspect, it's very similar to The Monolith Deathcult's latest album. With some work, this band can release a stellar album in the near future.

A release through the French Listenable Records that features really short song titles, a totally terrorist cover and... hmmm, a well known musician in the band’s line up. Listenable is usually a label you can count on for - at least - decent releases. I hope we won’t get disappointed this time.

THE AMENTA were formed in 1997 and were known by the name CRUCIBLE OF AGONY, which was actually the band’s first form. COA went under major line up changes and became THE AMENTA in 2002, debuting the very same year with the EP "Mictlan". The start was in 2004, with their debut full-length work "Occasus".

With a new album through Listenable, the Aussies (you thought Australia is only about Rock & Roll?) return with their weird Industrial Death Metal sound to claim that this album pushes technology to its limits. As they say, they used 7 different studios from 3 different countries, as well as many musicians. "Non" features 2 drummers, 6 vocalists and bass players. To tell you the truth, I have no idea who all these people are!

The fact is that the only people that are worth mentioning are the guests in this album, Jason Mendonca (AKERCOCKE), Alice Daquet (SIR ALICE) and Alex Pope (RUINS), as well as the band’s drummer Dave Haley (Dis), who is no other than PSYCROPTIC’s drum beast! Regarding the music now, THE AMENTA plays a brutal Death/Grind kind of music with many "electronic" shit that somehow spoil the overall result, since they appear out of the blue sometimes and do not exactly fit the music. There were times I honestly thought that the CD was faulty! But in general, it is not such a bad release, since THE AMENTA have some nice Death Metal outbreaks (there were times they reminded me of ZYKLON), and when the technology is absent, there are some nice breaks that just prepare you for the onslaught...

I am not too excited about "Non", neither can I say that it is an album that I can’t stand listening to. It is a pretty decent release with a great dose of brutality, but I guess that you will like it only if you are a fan of this band or you are searching for something not so classic in the Death/Grind scene.

Originally written for Metal-Temple.Com
Yiannis D.