naisian [UK]
Mammalian
2011
Full Length
Independant
Post-rock/Sludge
9/10
U.K post metal band naisian, hails from Sheffield, the same city as another one of this reviewer’s favourite post rock band, 65daysofstatic. Maybe it’s something in the waters there that makes Sheffield produce great, catchy post rock sounds. naisian comes across as being many things at once: bluesy, sludgy, catchy and with heavy metal sensibilities. If one listens carefully, one might identify influences from many great post metal/sludge bands like Isis and Eyehategod. But far from ripping off any of them, naisian has infused very catchy beats and riffs, most evident in Take Me to the Mountain Dew Mountain. I would not mind taking a trip too after rocking out to this song.
naisian’s songs are heavily instrumental-dominated with the occasional vocals. They are not afraid to experiment with the varied sounds that their guitar pedal boards had to offer, thus having quite a large palette of sounds across all their songs. An example is the title track Mammalian, where all kinds of reverb-y delays and choruses were employed. The songs also varied in its focus: at times atmospheric, straight forward at others, even occasionally experimental. This makes the album quite a journey.
With 5 songs clocking in a total of just under 40 minutes, naisian brings a breath of fresh air into the genre that might sometimes get bogged down by the significant influences of a few of the post/sludge-genre. This album turned out to be pretty easy listening musically, and the production is sludgy and yet retains most of the details.
naisian on the internet:
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©2011 Heavy Metal Tribune | JJ Yeo
