Keeping everything pent up inside is an awful idea. You’re going to blow. It’s only a matter of time, and when it does occur, you have to hope you have enough sense to contain yourself to a healthy outburst. Whatever the fuck that is. If you have a creative valve to release, that’s probably best for you and everyone around you.

Minneapolis-based death manglers Nothingness luckily can emote through their art, and their third record “Godslaughter” helps them quell what’s gathering and release it in their spattering music. The band refers to its music as “digressive,” and that’s certainly fair as their lashes splash all over, easily catching you with their blades even if you manage to duck the first few swings. If you’ve been alive for the last decade, especially in this country, you will understand the bloodletting and the infernal heat coming from this beast—vocalist Barclay Olson, guitarist/synth player/vocalist Alex Lewandowski, bassist Jon Grandel, drummer Jason Hirt (guitarist John Hancock and effects master Xen Hartzell have joined since the recording). It’s a mind fucker, and it’s probably good for you to experience that.

“Incinerated Immediately” fucking trucks right out of the gates, growls mauling as the playing gets faster, battering and blinding in just over a minute and a half. “Convulsing Putrefaction” is tricky and brutal, the growls tunneling into the dirt, sinewy, rubbery playing making your brain smoke. Guitars slither as the fists fly faster, screams dig under nails, and everything ends abruptly. “Skull Evulsion” is a smothering force, maniacal screams ringing in the night, the terror building in form. The drums destroy, the pace adding devastation, everything ending in a pile of rubble. “Trenchant Glunch” drubs, growls retch, and a monstrous force tries to pull you under, the guitars adding lightning to your veins. The tempo gets meatier as tortured howls shake your psyche, creating a tornadic force that drags you through a million blows greeting your head. “Vanquishing Providence” is doomy and muddy before exploding, the drums crushing as the band trudges into pooled blood. The pace comes unglued, howls scar, and the guitars create a thick steam that feels feral.

“Divine Irresponsibility” is the longest track here, running 6:59 and immediately rocketing the temperatures to dangerous highs. Death ruptures as the growls dig under flesh, doom bells echo in the distance, the guitars gut. The intensity spills over as your nerve endings tingle, a slow-driving tempo twists the screws, and everything ends in a buzz. “Incredible Violence” opens with a Kurt Vonnegut quote from Slaughterhouse Five as the playing swings hammers, chugging and slashing, ramming through walls of rock. The riffs encircle and confound, throaty growls threaten, and the blood smears in mouths, leaving a metallic taste. “Umbral Spear” is cold, synth gathering like a cloud, start/stop mashing shaking your brain in your skull. Growls slash as the band goes harder, techy soloing giving this horror some added prowess, the energy sprawling before cresting. Closer “Novus Hegemonikon” buzzes as the growls scathe, burly melodies locking your head in a vice, mashing as the atmosphere turns chilling. Spooky guitar work haunts as psychedelic strains infect, and final shots arrive slowly, mightily, putting out your lights.

Nothingness send their vitriol into the world and beyond with “Godslaughter,” another solid building block in their death metal foundation. They also manage to add interesting twists and color dashes in their otherwise skull-dusting music, a testament to their creativity and madness. This is a really enthralling album that hopefully doesn’t fly under the radar based on the glut of great death metal releases we’ve already had this year. For sure, this is one of them.   

For more on the band, go here: https://nothingnessmn.bandcamp.com/

To buy the album, go here: https://everlastingspew.com/search?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=NOTHINGNESSGODSLAUGHTER&submit_search=

For more on the label, go here: https://everlastingspew.com