ALBUM REVIEW: Nomasta - "House of the Tiger King"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 03/11/2017

Label: Independent

Nomasta keeps its debut highly listenable by balancing artistry with barbarism. It is those moments of elegant song writing counterbalanced by ruthless arrangements that are just timeless metal. "House Of The Tiger King" gets you hyped for whatever chapter two becomes.

"House of the Tiger King" DD track listing:

1. Death Rattles

2. The Book Burners

3. Sir Impaler

4. Alchematic

5. House Of The Tiger King              

6. This Trail Got The Best Of Us

7. At The Mercy Of Sleep

8. Hard As A Coffin Nail

9. Dawnbreaker

The Review:

Everyone says they can merge lots of styles. Far too much of the time, it is super awkward business or feels inferential. Many groups suggest they can make their many inspirations work as well as a Mastodon or Converge do. Nope. They end up sounding like Mastodon or Converge cover bands doing original music of vacillating quality instead. No need to name names. You can fill in the blanks there.

A new Leeds trio, Nomasta have had several iterations in its life. Formed from the ashes of Canaya, with Owen Wilson on guitars and vocals and Andy Richards (formerly of alternative metal act Nerve Engine) on drums, Canaya’s dissolution saw the entry of Kris Allen on bass. With that, Nomasta was born. It steps into the pocket of many sounds. The young three-piece does so with an aptitude beyond its years.

Billed as a thrash band with doom elements, you will most likely catch hardcore, progressive and sludge influences throughout "House of the Tiger King," the band's debut album. And what a journey it is.

The recording begins with "Death Rattles," which is a perfect introduction to a distinctive sound. Solid thrash synthesized with psychedelic and progressive essentials make this a worthy representation of Nomasta's vision. Though only two minutes, the cut's napalm spray of guitars and vocals are searing. It is a ferocious scene setter for "The Book Burners," which rips through with melodic thrash. The riffs are withering. The vocals are coarse. And here is where Nomasta also proves impressive: track selection comes in with a high musical IQ. "Sir Impaler" continues the onslaught, while introducing dashes of prog and hardcore, which flow exceedingly well into "Alchematic" one of the proggier cuts. It goes on more of a thrash jag two minutes in, but remains steady in that early tone, carried throughout.

The title track leads you into the second half of "House of the Tiger King." Here, the music picks up the pace with a driving rhythm section and vocals riding the crest of big riffs. The band's players have much experience beyond Canaya, and that experience seems evident as the mood cascades from heavy chords, into more smooth musical transitions. "This Trail Got The Best Of Us" sees Nomasta get darker and even denser in its thrash, while songs like "Mercy of Sleep" and "Hard As A Coffin Nail" rain down hell in the form of demonic percussion and forceful lyricism.

Nomasta keeps its debut highly listenable by balancing artistry with barbarism. It is those moments of elegant songwriting counterbalanced by ruthless arrangements that are just timeless metal. "House Of The Tiger King" gets you hyped for whatever chapter two becomes.

"House of the Tiger King" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

CANAYA - Sealed Within The Walls - EP Review

Album Type:EP

Date Released: Feb 17th 2014

Label: Self-released

Sealed Within The Walls - track listing:

1.Levitating Casket 04:35

2.Award Winning Bastard 05:16

3.Monarch Of Sin 04:46

4.Committed (feat. John Sutcliffe of Humanfly) 02:46

5.Audio Porn For The Blind 05:31

Bio:

Formed in 2010, featuring ex-members of Tangaroa, Executive Distraction Tasks, Hot Prophecy and Nerve Engine. Canaya's sound draws from an uncompromising urge to play powerful heavy music, pulling metal firmly into the 21st Century.

The debut EP, 'Alignment Of Dying Planets' was released in 2010 to great reviews in Rocksound (8/10), Big Cheese (5/5) and received heavy rotation on Total Rock Radio.

Gigs have followed at Damnation Festival, Brew Records, Big Spaceship, Brainwash, British Wildlife amongst many others.

Shared the stage with the likes of Narrows, Keelhaul, Knut, Coliseum, Humanfly, Melt Banana, Hawk Eyes, Brontide and Lavotchkin.

The video for the single, 'Dios Muerto', became a YouTube favourite and caught the attention of Ginger from The Wildhearts, who asked Simon to record guest vocals on his 'Mutation' album.

With a host of new material, Canaya have released their sophomore EP 'Sealed Within The Walls'.

Band Members

Simon Wright - Vocals

Owen Wilson - Guitar/Vocals

Chris Wilson - Bass/Vocals

Andy Richards - Drums

Review:

Before we talk about anything lets talk about riffs. I cannot begin to tell you how many bands out there today could learn a thing or two from the fellas in CANAYA (Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom) The riffs are spot on genuine ,beautiful and one thing is for sure they get brutal.

Its like everything that was good about early Mastodon met up with Botch and said “Hey lets make a baby that would sound kinda like us and Entombed” but in all seriousness these guys guys are on to something powerful.

Take the track “Award Winning Bastard” for instance all the elements of a metal masterpiece are in line!

The vocals and guitars have moments of ambiance and layering that take the feel of the band to unexpected places at times only to be met with multiple group shouts & different style influenced vocal work touching on snake like black metal, reaching to grind core & beyond.

Over all an impressive release that's worth a few dozen listens. Any fan of heavy music looking for something new should give these guys a chance you might just become a fan like I did.

Written by Stephen T Barton

Check The Band From Links Below

www.facebook.com/canayauk
www.canaya.bandcamp.com
www.soundcloud.com/canayauk
www.youtube.com/canayauk
www.twitter.com/canayaukwww.myspace.com/canayauk
www.last.fm/music/canaya
www.canayauk.tumblr.com