Absorption

With Absorption, two up-and-coming projects come together on Belgium's NOTHingess REcords to release some of their best material yet.

Nadja is known for showcasing the heavier and doomier side of Aidan Baker's prolific psyche, but his contribution to the split conveys a very un-metal and un-doomy style. It's more like Bliss Torn from Emptiness, actually. There isn't even a single guitar riff throughout the entire half-hour song. The focus is on the subtle ambience and drones, as well as creating immense and intricately crafted walls of feedback, resulting in a far cry from the endlessly repeated doom riffs of Najda's debut, Touched.

"Absorbed in You" can essentially be divided into 3 ten-minute motions. During the first ten minutes, one of these walls of feedback introduces the song. There isn't really anything special about this segment, but it does immerse and relax you with its atmosphere of calm drones and fuzzy feedback. The wall falls back at the end of the passage, leaving you with a spacious scape that transmits the feeling of being absorbed and despondent. You could call this following section the calm before the storm. For the following ten minutes, deep loops and an incessant piano pattern bury the listener in a lull. By the twenty minute mark, the song reaches its climax, and an amazing burst of feedback pierces the atmosphere, sure to send uncontrollable shivers down anyone's spine. As the convulsions subside, another towering flood of feedback pours in and leads the song to its end.

Not to be overshadowed by Nadja's monolith, Methadrone tears in and shows how the band's sound has matured. Most of the death/doom aspects of their early works have been shed. Instead, you have a unique solution of purely bass-driven doom. Though the music is rooted in doom, a very mechanical and industrial feel is stirred up by the lack of vocals, programmed drums, and repitition. The production quality has also evolved. Listening to Erroneous Enlightenment made me feel as if I was inside a forlorn, dilapidated warehouse. But the tracks on Absorption would make you think someone wiped off the dust in the warehouse and waxed the floors. There are still a few cobwebs hanging around, but the poisonous spiders have all moved out. Methadrone's songs in Absorption have a similar shine and polish. The way the drums seem to crumble and the riffs dissipate and disintegrate is an incredible effect.

It seems the only things that Absorption could be compared to is each band's respective work. If you enjoyed Nadja's Bliss Torn from Emptiness, then you'll most likely love "Absorbed in You". If you liked either of Methadrone's previous releases, particularly Retrogression, then you can be sure you will savor Methadrone's contribution to the split as well.

Being in my top 5 albums of 2005, Absorption is not a release fans of either band want to miss out on.