Crucial Blast Releases

NEKRASOV Extinction CD DIGIPACK
CBR86
$9.98

TRACK LISTING AND AUDIO SAMPLES:
1. We are just an indifferent interpretation of the black plague ::MP3 SAMPLE::
2. Disillusion ::MP3 SAMPLE::
3. Matter is the bastard ::MP3 SAMPLE::
4. Void into nonvoid ::MP3 SAMPLE::
5. Pre-fetal non-mantra ::MP3 SAMPLE::
6. Chant the name of god in a thousand languages until all is blood and feces ::MP3 SAMPLE::
7. No room for liberation found 'here' or 'now' ::MP3 SAMPLE::
8. Extinction ::MP3 SAMPLE::

Riding atop the recent wave of black metal/noise hybrids who combine the bleak frosty riffs and blackened ferocity of underground BM with blown-out and corrosive strains of industrial noise (see also WOLD, Emit, Grief No Absolution, Enbilulugugal, Vargr), the Australian one-man band Nekrasov has so far made a substantial mark in the realm of extremist necro-racket with a series of limited edition, brutally abrasive albums (Cognition Of Splendid Oblivion, The Form Of Thought From Beast, etc) that have mostly been self-released, save for some recent offerings on labels like Siege Of Power and Chrome Leaf. Early on, Nekrasov's sound was steeped in caustic noise, a blazing industrialized black metal assault that was doused in heavy levels of irradiated distortion and Merzbowian skree. But more recently, it's mutated into less metallic regions, alternating the hyperblast black metal with forays into crushing, demonic wall-noise and blasted ambience. Now, Nekrasov is back with a new full length (the first for Crucial Blast), and it's the most advanced slab of their blacknoize terror that we've heard so far. An octagonal prism of isolationist drone, flesh-rending mechanical black metal, abstract otherworldly beauty, claustrophobic industrial dread, and the most violent, suffocating strains of harsh noise, Extinction is pure cyclonic contempt for humanity.
The eight-song disc combines hyperspeed cybernetic blastscapes and bleak black metal riffage, the tracks often revealing snarled minor key melodies that are buried deep beneath blizzard blasts of machinegun drum machines, the drums veering through nerve-fraying rhythmic shifts, and acidic croaks bathed in black hiss. Triumphant frost-bitten riffs scream out of maelstroms of violent distortion, and Choral voices soar through a cyclone of helicoptering blastbeats and sheets of blown-out, ultra distorted drone, streaked with bits of gorgeous vibraphone-like melody, somber Hammond-like organ drones and looped synth, sometimes breaking off into grinding slo-motion industrial throb or swirling kosimiche drift. The tracks on Extinction go back and forth between the noisier, more industrial like material and overt black metal, though the two sides of Nekrasov's sound are always present together. When the sound does move into pure noise, it's either vast fields of minimal ambient drift, metallic clank and distant percussive sounds, utterly bleak Lustmordian soundscapes, or crushing, almost HNW-style slabs of molten noise, scouring waves of hellish skree and crushing slow-motion tidal surges of jet-black sonic syrup flecked with dubbed-out blasts of tectonic crush and electronic glitches that ripple across the void.
Closing the album, the title track descends even further into black industrial crush, a monstrous, almost seventeen-minute long sprawl of plodding, simple drum pound echoing within a slowly swirling fog of distorted fx, churning, billowing black ambience, buried black buzz, an endless whirlpool of blown-out synthesizers and the immense black breath of leviathan lungs heaving deep below the surface.
Like everything else from Nekrasov, this album is loaded with blasting inhuman drumming and ferocious riffing that form into noise-drenched trance-scapes of bestial industrial BM, but the attention to texture and sound sculpture elevates this above most mechanized black metal projects, with immersive layers of electronic sound, creative stereo panning techniques, and other production tricks that create a harsh, alien atmosphere that is pretty unique to Nekrasov's sound. This is a scorching new chapter from one of our favorite bands out there right now fusing black metal and noise.
The cd version comes packaged in a full color six-panel digipack.

REVIEW FROM COSMOS GAMING: My first experience with Australia’s Nekrasov was with the one man band’s contribution to a split with Aderlating earlier this year. While I knew that the project was a combination of dark ambient/noise and black metal, Nekrasov’s contribution to the split release was almost entirely dark ambient and was a very dense piece of work that took some time to fully absorb. My latest exposure to the artist comes from Crucial Blast Records, who have released the newest full length album Extinction. And as it turns out, this couldn’t be a more appropriate title. Throughout the hour long album, listeners are taken through what one could only imagine the end of the world must sound like if time were to be sped up or slowed down without warning. It’s a harsh, unsettling experience that is unlike any other and finds Nekrasov finally using walls of sound to its advantage.
Previously, I felt that this group’s use of repetition and layers didn’t quite reach the level of intensity and climactic finish that it intended to. Extinction has clearly fixed all of that, as not only is there a constant interplay between dark ambient melodies, black metal riffs, and harsh power electronics but everything works together to create the sounds of the apocalypse. Rather than letting you have time to think, Nekrasov launches right into the madness with “We Are Just an Indifferent Interpretation of the Black Plague” which maintains an extremely fast and machine-like pace for its entirety. As the album continues, these moments pop up from time to time and combine noisy industrial elements with melodic black metal riffs to create a sound that is too precise to be completely human but still retains some aspects of humanity. It is during this time that listeners may start to conjure up imagery of war and nuclear devastation, but because the instrumentals fly by so quickly these images may flash by as fast as a rapid hail of bullets. From there the instrumentals return to slow dark ambient and drone and create genuinely unsettling soundscapes. Listening to the title track of this album is akin to watching everyone die around you, seen in slow motion as you are paralyzed with fear. This is easily Nekrasov’s most accomplished work to date, and the war like noise and sounds of decay are enough to make listeners truly lose themselves in these songs.
There are some vocals throughout Extinction, but they only appear when the tempo is increased to a blistering pace. The faster moments have heavily distorted screaming that is so intense that it enhances the warlike atmosphere and is sometimes almost too harsh to handle. Admittedly there isn’t that much variation to the screaming as it sounds as though it has been run through the same filters each time. However, there is one track in particular where the vocals are used perfectly and enhance the overall atmosphere of the album. On “Disillusion”, the harsh vocals are placed over top of clean chants. This makes it sound as though one person is singing a religious chant of sorts and the other is screaming at the top of their lungs, intent on tearing the other to pieces. It seems highly appropriate considering the end of the world motif that is created by the instrumentals and is one of the most impressive pieces Extinction has to offer.
As you can probably tell, Nekrasov is too extreme for most people to handle. Even those who typically consider themselves to be into genres such as black metal may find that Extinction’s noisy electronics and oppressive atmosphere are just too bleak and hopeless to listen to. And yet, for those of us who can listen to this type of music and hear more than just a wall of noise this album will be seen as a brilliant piece of art. It really is the sound of the apocalypse, and should we ever find ourselves faced with nuclear war or some other end of the world scenario, perhaps people like me will face it head on with the noise of Extinction blaring through our headphones.

REVIEW FROM TERRORIZER MAGAZINE: A more authentic fusion of BM, noise and ambient can be found in the work of Australian outsider Nekrasov, whose new album, ‘Extinction’ [8] (Crucial Blast), careens wildly between the hyperkinetic rawness of the Darkthronesque ‘Void Into Nonvoid’ and the scorched-earth soundscapes of ‘Matter Is The Bastard’ and the 17-minute title track, with the melodic flourishes of ‘Disillusion’ rising above compacted strata of filth and grind. Extreme enough to take on all comers, Nekrasov batters genre boundaries with considerable style.