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Tonight I'm leaving for Germany, going on a little trip, 5 days in Berlin, I've never seen it. I had actually decided on Warsaw, but then the flight... Well, that's another story. So, I remembered a few people I knew who now live in Germany; an old classmate in Nuremberg or thereabouts, 2 girls who opened an ice cream shop in Munich, a friend of friends we used to hang out with as kids who got married 8 years ago and now bought a house in Mannheim; I still have his number, I'll try sending a message, without much enthusiasm or hope. And Andrea replies! A couple of texts to greet each other and that's it, also because I had no idea where Mannheim was, but the name wasn't unfamiliar to me. I check Wikipedia, and I discover that Carl Benz invented and drove the first car in history, but I doubt that this is the reason.
Then last night, while mindlessly browsing the computer listening to music, the connection hit me; and so I pick up the phone and write to Andrea: "Do you know the Black Shape Of Nexus?" and he replies: "Never heard of that name, is it a biker gang?".
Instead, the Black Shape Of Nexus is a sextet from this cheerful town on the Rhine, but cheerful they definitely are not.
The self-titled album in question is actually a grim barge that takes us to the middle of nowhere, leaving us lost in fog and pain. Only 3 tracks for a total of 42 minutes, with a bass played through thuds and jolts and guitar lines that occasionally burst in with unexpected violence but mostly tend to entangle together, creating a trap of sound that strongly resembles Godflesh and in which the fear of getting snared is worse than being stuck in it.
The pauses and measured passages only increase the anxiety that permeates the entire album, and Malte Seidel's powerful growl seems to be swallowed up by the vortex of despair, emerging only for brief yet heartbreaking angry screams.
The electronics in all of this insinuates itself within the sonic backdrop without ever taking the spotlight, but it contributes to further rot the distorted and often obsessive sounds.
A good album, in which no escape route is visible to let us flee from the sonic desolation labyrinth comprised of only the three episodes it contains, simply titled "III" "VI" and "V".
It was logical that Andrea didn't know these Black Shape Of Nexus. And maybe that's for the best.
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