Now THIS is death doom. Hiraeth is an absolute monster of an album from Nott, benefitting from massive guitar tones, crushing vocals and gorgeous overarrching production .The end result is an album that is transcendentally heavy, stripped back in its compositional style, but full of a vision that seems to get ever more rewarding with each passing listen. The sense of forward motion and understated devastation that Nott bring to the table on Hiraeth is impressive and speaks to the continually thrilling scope of what they have done.
What strikes me about Hiraeth is that Nott find a way to balance a variety of sonic ideas, from pick scrapes and Meshuggah-esque breakdowns to death metal riffs a la immolation and doomed threnodies reminiscent of Mournful Congregation. While that may sound like a lot all at once, Hiraeth shows that Nott have found a way to make this sound like a complete, coherent whole. The driving forth that is their new album is mind boggling, and the use of dynamic shifts on tracks like "Writhe" makes for an immediately engaging approach. Nott crack skulls on this album and their crushing sonics and abrasive timbres are wonderfully, deeply engaging.
Hiraeth is one of those interesting albums that reflects a combination of performance styles coming together to craft something greater than the sum of its parts. These types of albums are hard to find, but when done right they can be utterly mesmerizing. Nott dig deep on Hiraeth in order to express their sound at the highest possible level. The product of years of hard work and a very clear, twisted vision, devotees of the underground are going to find themselves circling back to the death doom terror that Nott visit down upon us all.
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