Tokyo, Japan’s In Nothingness aren’t shy about their affection for mid-’90s melodic Swedish death metal. We’re talking Eucharist, Sacrilege (SWE), Ablaze My Sorrow, Gates of Ishtar, The Moaning, and Fatal Embrace. Of course, the usual suspects–In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, and At the Gates–are part of that homage, but Lord Nothingness (aka Kenta Inoue) has really honed his sonics around the more underground acts that occupied the peripheries on labels like Wrong Again, Invasion, No Fashion, and Black Sun. New album, Black Sun Funeral, is the follow-on from 2017’s Swedophile Into the Nothingness..., and musically, it’s the antidote to the lifeless death metal currently making the rounds as de facto cool.
“A Nameless Grave” feels right at home with previously-released track “The Garden of Pain,” where folky acoustic guitars segue into blazing (gold, natch), aggro riff, drums, and vocal combos that crash, soar, and sear. In Nothingness’s brand of melodic death metal is cavalier and impassioned, so expect not a lot of polish just a lot of heart, grit, and good old-fashioned NWOSDM madness.
Says Lord Nothingness: “This is pure old-school death metal! This album contains my passion for heavy metal and respect for the Swedish death metal bands of the ’90s. You will be fascinated by this brutality and sadness. The world goes back to the ’90s…”
If emotions still burn in the fifth season, then In Nothingness is right up our prospective alleys. See you at the dawn of flames!
