Hailing from Kiel in the northern-most reaches of the Schleswig-Holstein state in Germany are Nuisance Of Majority. This band have been kicking around since the early 2000’s and have won praise from many corners, being likened to “A piss-up hosted by Agnostic Front and Entombed” by Metal Hammer seems to be the most accurate and stand out remark. Why? Because it precisely nails the approach, style and sound Nuisance Of Majority (from here, now referred to as NOM) have created, aimed to refine (if you can refine raw power?) and slung about the place over the best part of two decades. With ‘Savage Ritual’ being album number 4, we should just get on with the ritual and see how savage it is.
It’s rather savage when it gets going. Obligatory opening sample/instrumental nonsense is the first thing which greets your ears and after hearing so many of these over the past few years, the whole ambience building novelty it had originally has really worn thin on me, but thankfully the title track which follows up (which in my mind is the actual first track of the album proper) comes in like a sucker punch. Just like Metal Hammer said… It’s Entombed and Agnostic Front getting hammered together and making sweet, angry, filthy noises for our pleasure. Roaring vocals, HM-2 tone friendly guitars and a gratuitous dose of attitude brings in the groove driven ‘Death n Roll’ style and it doesn’t stop for anything.
A real wild musical beast, NOM really do go to town on this release. Energetic rhythms pulsing through each track where it matters, the filthy, hardcore/sludge hybrid with the sneer of groove metal has all the right components and it is executed rather well in a musical sense. It hits hard where it needs to, it forces the issue and just smothers you in how it sounds, how it feels, how it wants you to feel… It basically assimilates you like some kind of formless absorbing miasma of filth, only to regurgitate you into a mindless drone, craving more of the same.
A rather colourful description? Maybe… But this is the best way to describe it. NOM is like a monster from a horror film and it won’t stop for anything!
It does however have its Achilles heel – it is very predictable. There is little variety in terms of the delivery and the composition, almost as if it is following a formula or recipe. Add one part Entombed worship, mix with some sludge and hardcore and groove like Vision Of Disorder, Agnostic Front, Will Haven and some Deftones, then just crank it up and go balls out mental. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t keep the attention too well. NOM are definitely a band who know how to conjure a response out of a crowd and ‘Savage Ritual’ looks like more of a setlist than a musical construction. This album was designed to be played live and to be the soundtrack to chaos and gratuitous partying.
And that’s a ritual I wouldn’t mind getting involved with!
(6.5/10 Fraggle)
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