Despite my love for demented junglist Panacea, I didn't start out as a Squaremeter fan. In fact, I downright detested Mathis Mootz's first album with that moniker. Perhaps the worst release in Ant-Zen's peerless catalog, 14id1610s was inexcusably self-indulgent: a poorly executed collection of irreverent accidents reeking of puerile amateurism.
For years I refused to get burned again by anything Mootz released outside of the safe confines of the Position Chrome imprint. During that time, Brainwashed matriarch Jon Whitney urged me to reconsider my steadfast position, and in early 2006, admittedly attracted primarily by its Muslimgauze-esque artwork, I purchased the extraordinary Aswad during a Synapscape / Asche tour stop. Clearly Mootz had grown beyond my expectations, maturing into an artist who not only understood the rules of the game, but also how to challenge those stagnating conventions effectively.
Nyx is an alarmingly ascetic record, relying heavily on a limited soundbank of bleak drones, soaring synth pads, and bombastic percussion. Although uniformity can often prove detrimental in these types of albums, Mootz has managed to build something mesmeric with an appropriate level of momentum. Every sound seems purposeful instead of incidental, buzzing and rumbling with mystical grandeur and an everpresent stench of death. Bearing track titles named for Greek gods and goddesses, these epic pieces adeptly synchronize with the conceptual thematic intent, recalling an ancient age when deities were revered and feared.
Mootz's incontrovertible veneration for the legendary Lustmord was apparent on 2005's The Frozen Spark, but Nyx definately has its own distinct identity. Of note, however, is the apparent influence of martial industrial acts like Der Blutharsch, though in this case the elements are used much more sparingly and presumably without controversial intent. "Moros" opens the album with monotonous soundscapes peppered with unusual and often abrupt sonic intrusions. A near silence uncomfortably initiates "Thanatos," its low hum slowing rising among a repetitious machine echo. A bass pulse hits like a thunder crack, giving way to a blossoming melody that foreshadows impending doom that one would expect for a track dedicated to death personified. Later, the opening crash of "Nemesis" shatters any remaining false comfort provided by the preceding lulling grey ambience. Here, explosive blasts, tribal rhythms and backwards cymbals churn ritualistically, perhaps in preparation for the retribution that particular goddess was known to deliver. While less accessible, "Lachesis" continues in this vein, building up caustic delays from its warlike percussions and triggered samples, giving way to the more subdued though no less frightening closer "Atropos."
One of the finest dark ambient releases I've had the pleasure to hear in years, Nyx furthers both Ant-Zen's enduring legacy and that of Mootz himself. Not content to remain solely a rave icon, Mootz has proven himself worthy of the attention of serious dark ambient music lovers.
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