Bringing old school death metal back to life and into ’20s is Nemesium with their long-awaited and much-anticipated debut Continua album — the follow up to their 2015 EP Sentient Cognizance.
This album has been a long time coming and fuck me if it wasn’t worth the wait. The cold, confronting intro “Antecedent” kicks Continua in perfectly before launching into the bleak black/death inspired opener “Archetype”. This track is pure pounding annihilation that is unrelenting from start to finish. The tone and overall feel from Nemesium so early on on the album is that of a band who have not simply sat around in the rehearsal space doing sweet FA for the past five years. Drawing from a multitude of influences and inspirations they have managed to craft a truly despicable and brutal album which “Archetype” perfectly personifies. Which leads into track three and my personal favourite track on the album “Boundaryless”. In its mere short four-minute length, this song contains every single magnificent moment of Morbid Angel’s Domination. Vocalist Clint Williams summons his inner guttural demons as both Chris McEwin and Andrew Reid on guitars invoke the spirit of Trey Azagthoth delivering some of the most soul-destroying riffs and leads that need to be heard to be believed. Keeping the malevolent chaos in perfect rhythm Justin on Drums and Marcus on Bass hammer “Boundaryless” as impertinently as the artistic foresight of Nemesium should be.
“Annihilation Prophecy” is a twisted schizophrenic early eighties thrash beast that sounds like the road trip soundtrack aboard a runaway freight train that is on a track of annihilation crushing all who stand in its path. Which leads us into the pure frost-covered blackened death tune “Virch”. When this song came on and blasted through my Sonos system the walls nearly shook and lost paint at its pummeling speed and groove infused brilliance.
It is clear to see that Nemesium wear the trademark sounds of their influences on their sleeve, yet what makes them stand out is how they have incorporated so many genres into writing their debut album, manipulating the entire extreme metal catalogue to release the exceptional Continua. It is quite evident that metal has sewn itself into each of the five members’ DNA.
“The Fire And The Flesh” is a hypnotically slow brooding tune that slowly rotates the vice on our senses and demands our attention whilst crushing our skulls. Williams’ vocals heard on this track is a man possessed, summoning as much malevolence as humanly possible as McEwin, Reid, Rhitli and Rhodes blast and strum the chords of ghastly hymns. Another standout track on Continua is the punishing “The Dawn Of Retribution”.
Part black, part death, all thrash groove with precision magnificence I always knew that Nemesium’s debut was going to be a killer album from start to finish but I couldn’t truly fathom how blistering it would be.
