Adam Fritz has been recording as En Nihil for some years now, having released his first music as long ago as 1990 but this new release is the first time that I have come across him. I am sure that the reason for this is that his music belongs in an area of the psyche that is normally associated with pain as opposed to pleasure. This is ‘music’ that incorporates ambient black metal stylings with ‘noise’ to produce something that is exceptionally disturbing. This is music that many will not believe that could ever be considered as such, and is much more like the worst horror film you could ever imagine than something that you would want to actually listen to for pleasure.
There is no way that I would actually have paid for this, and the first time I listened to this all the way through it felt more like a feat of endurance as opposed to something I wanted to play, but for some very strange reason it has grown on me. I can’t explain the attraction, as there is none, but it is weirdly compelling and the more I have played it the more I have felt a need to play it some more. I still don’t think I enjoy the ‘music’, so why keep listening to it? That I don’t know. So, while I will never give this a high rating or deem it indispensible there is something there that keeps calling to me – and that something is very dark indeed.
BTW, Eibon Records’ strapline is ‘Sonorizing Your Nightmares Since 1996’ – and this album is the epitomy of this approach.
