Album Review: Nothingness – “Godslaughter” (Death Metal)

Written by Kep

If you asked me to name my top 10 active death metal bands, my list might be a little unorthodox. Sure, Immolation, Gorguts, and Cannibal Corpse would be in there, obviously, but the remaining seven would have to include the Jersey Two—Hath and Replicant, and no, nobody has ever called them the Jersey Two before—and you know I can’t leave out my faves Hyperdontia. The final few spots would be tough decisions involving names like Undeath, Atræ Bilis, Dormant Ordeal, and the like. But I’m 100% certain that Nothingness would be in. 

Maybe that’s surprising because Nothingness haven’t been around all that long (their debut was in 2019). Or maybe you missed having your skull crushed in 2023 by Supraliminal, their monster sophomore record (which made my AOTY list). Whatever the reason you might be surprised, you shouldn’t be because this band is fucking GOOD. Their brand is ugly, dissonant, bestial gnarly death, grooved up to mega fun levels and just the right amount of weird quirky shit. It sort of stands in its own space in modern death metal: there aren’t any bands out there that sound like Nothingness, and Godslaughter is another righteous exhibition of their uniquely addictive viscera-splattered art. 

This is a band that’s far from orthodox and eager to break out of whatever box you think death metal lives in, and so they kick off the record with the brisk one minute and 39 seconds of “Incinerated Immediately”, a chugging chaotic demon train made of bones and jabs to the solar plexus. “Convulsing Putrefaction” follows and feels a bit like being trapped inside a house of horrors that’s rotating on multiple axes, all stairmaster-from-hell riffs and revolving mobiles of meat slabs slapping you across the face. This is as good a place as any to mention the guitar tone on Godslaughter: it’s mean and toothy, a mix of beefy audible pitches with a layer of distortion on top, like it practically has a literal oozing crust. Shit is crunchy and delicious. And it sits on a bass base that’s as wide and heavy as a Snorlax but demonically agile. 

Next up is “Skull Evulsion”, a straight ahead death-dealing assault with lyrics that confirm this band is made up of intelligent motherfuckers: “Toothless men / Pat themselves on the back / With clawless hands / And kiss the rings of those / Which wring the necks of dissent”. Total time elapsed in the album so far: less than eight minutes. The next three tracks more than double that length. “Trenchant Glunch” (a delightful name for a song if ever there was one) vacillates between groove-laden salvos of chunky pummeling and vicious tremolo passages. “Vanquishing Providence” gets all doomy in its prodigious intro before laying into some of the deepest cut grooves on the record, then “Divine Irresponsibility” churns slowly to life with grimace-inducing pinches and barrels into a downright grisly mixture of murderous blasting and grim, horror-tinged atmosphere, complete with the ominous tolling of bells and a guest vocal spot from Convulsing’s Brendan Sloan. 

Godslaughter’s impressive final third is introduced with a spoken quote from Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, which leads humorously into “Incredible Violence”, which delivers accurately on the promise of its title. “Umbral Spear” opens with gloomy synths on a dark and twisted motif that sticks around for the duration of the track, a particularly chilling number that features a truly demented solo courtesy of guest Gabriele Gramaglia (Cosmic Putrefaction, Vertebra Atlantis, etc.). Closing the listen is the brooding “Novus Hegemonikon”, all mid-tempo menace and quirky bits of moodiness, a fitting album-ender that feels final, permanent even.

All told, the record just feels gruesome, visceral and violent in all the right ways with an overarching tinge of the macabre. The riffs are utterly non-stop and any given song can feel like being caught in a blender full of gore, but Nothingness are smart enough in the songwriting department to keep things varied and surprising. Fast and furious work on the fretboards makes the slow, ponderous stuff feel heavier and the groovier stuff catchier, and bits of quirk like the swinging chugs in the middle of “Trenchant Glunch” play off of it all to add that unique element of fun. The mix and master are killer work, every instrument shines, and Barclay Olson’s vocals are unequivocally excellent. 

THE BOTTOM LINE

Nothingness made a believer out of me years ago, and now they’re gonna do that for a hell of a lot more folks. Godslaughter is right up there with the best death metal albums of the year and might well be in my top slot after a few more weeks of revisits. If Nothingness aren’t on your radar yet, fix that shit.