Nahemah

A New Constellation

The new wave of Spanish kitchen sink metal | Lifeforce

What makes the fourth album by Alicante, Spain’s Nahemah so interesting isn’t so much the towering gothic metal tones that form the foundation of their music, but the notion that the band either doesn’t know any better or simply doesn’t care about what trimmings should adorn such a record. Strip all the frills away, and you’ve got a rather intriguing blend of Anathema, Katatonia and the Deftones that at times achieves an understated majesty. However, the quintet throws so many audacious little twists along the way that, while initially incongruous, eventually leave us wondering just how far their music could go if they went all-out: effects-laden guitar flourishes that echo Adrian Belew, sudden flourishes of symphonic metal, new wave-ish Moog synth solos, saxophone solos so smooth that they teeter perilously close to sounding David Sanborn-esque, piano-led passages that smack of Coldplay and, from out of nowhere, a vocoder. All seemingly just, well, because.

Unlike Deadlock’s recent catastrophe, Nahemah’s sonic accoutrements are used tastefully enough to maintain a consistency and cohesiveness throughout A New Constellation. In a way continuing where the revelatory “Today Sunshine Ain’t the Same” from 2007’s The Second Philosophy left off, the 10 tracks carefully offset raw power with accessible hard rock, brilliantly exemplified by the shimmering “Follow Me” and the Enslaved-ish (latter-day) “The Perfect Depth of the Mermaids.” Vocalist Pablo Egido continues to exhibit impressive range, his alternating between strong clean singing and robust growl perfectly suited to a band that so obviously thrives amidst so much diversity.

—Adrien Begrand

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