Let’s get this out of the way: The snare sounds fine.
Five long years after the sonic abortion that was All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, Toronto’s Adversarial have returned with full-length number two, the economically titled Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism. Where All Idols gave mere glimpses of the band’s abilities through a dense screen of obnoxious snare hits, and the 2011 EP Prophetic Plain of Abyssal Revelation, an odds and ends collection, provided a little clearer view, Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism unveils the full scope of Adversarial’s power, and it is devastating.
If Adversarial’s debut told us one thing, and one thing only, it’s that Erich Kennedy is a beast on the drums. On Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism, Kennedy turns in not so much a performance as a cataclysmic event. His playing gives the album the intensity of a hurricane, keeping the listener ever in danger of being swept away by the storm. He’s not entirely relentless, however, as he can pull back and play it cool when the song calls for it. But when it’s go time, he’s gone, if not before.
When contemplating the stringed component of Adversarial’s music, Immolation constantly comes to mind. Though where Immolation is often content to sullenly trudge along, Adversarial turns the dial up to blitzkrieg, and for all intents and purposes, rips the knob off. Still, the angular, jarring and dissonant riffs bear striking resemblance to the work of the pride of Yonkers. Adversarial’s approach, however, seems more streamlined. The band’s penchant for high velocity smooths off some of the rougher edges, creating oddly catchy and melodic riffs that are, at the same time, colored with supreme malevolence. The low end rumbles sinuously like sand worms beneath the dunes of Arakis, and it synthesizes with the more boldly crashing higher notes to create an almost orchestral effect that is at once mesmerizing and eviscerating.
With an almost uniform intensity and level of quality, it is not individual tracks that stand out on Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism, but moments within the tracks. The way the chunky traditional death metal riffing erupts from the chaotic vortex of “Dissenting the Waking Shell” is magnificent. The three pick scrapes that kick off the closing of “Eonik Spiritual Warfare” hardly even qualify as music, but they ratchet up anticipation perfectly so that you can’t help but start banging your head to the ensuing riffage. Similarly rousing is the bell-like chiming of the one-chord intro to “Lone Wresting Hymns to the Warmoon of Chaos” that leads the song from ponderous to blistering in the space of a few seconds. These are but a few examples from a record that hits you with something new at seemingly every one of its myriad turns.
Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism is a mercilessly brutal album. It seems as if Adversarial seeks to take all the twisted evil that is in their heads and pound it into yours with absolute brute force. Yet, for all its dogged battery, this album is by no means an artless exercise. Adversarial’s craftsmanship is masterful, creating intricate and exhilarating compositions that thrive in their maelstrom-like delivery. This album’s success makes the All Idols debacle all the more unfortunate, because if there was a record even half this good hiding under that horrible snare sound, and I strongly suspect there was, it was criminal waste. This band has righted the ship, however, and in a big way. With Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism Adversarial has taken a giant step toward black/death supremacy.
