Album Review: Bast – Nanoångström (Black Bow Records)

Blackened doom metal band Bast return with Nanoångström, the follow-up to their 2014 critically acclaimed release Spectres. The album will be released on CD, digital and limited edition vinyl via Black Bow Records on the 23rd November 2018.

The band commented:

“Nanoångström continues our trajectory into narrative driven arrangements and experimental compositions; set against a bleak science fiction backdrop, it explores the human conditions of loss, isolation, and change in the wake of time’s passage.”

The slow build of the intro, Distant Suns sets up what follows perfectly. A slab of the bleakest, the darkest and the blackest doom metal head this year. Bast are a beast roaring through the hellishness of a post-apocalyptic world. Where nothing moves amongst the piles of skulls and bones and the howling of the wind is their music.

Far Horizons and The Beckoning Void double up on a perfect blend of horrifying heaviness and restrained beauty. The guitars alternate between all out assault and refined post-melodies, the vocals scar deep grooves in the mind with the pained sound of them and the drums are loud enough to shake the earth to its core. This is doom.

The title track takes what Bast have already achieved here and puts it through a progressive grinder, mincing up the riffs and bass hooks to a fine paste. It’s not as immediately as appealing but once it starts cooking, you’ll be salivating.

Whereas A Red Line Through Black has no qualms about being as heavy as humanly possible. Slow and methodical but filled with destructive beauty, a really layered song. This incredible album has already done enough to make it one of the finest doom metal releases this year but Bast have one more in them and it’s a long one (over 12 minutes). Taking us on a rhythmically challenging trip into harsh landscapes covered in slime and grime, The Ghosts Which Haunt the Space Between the Stars is an absolute epic. A finale that heightens the cold and depressing nature of the record.

Bast – Nanoångström Full Track Listing:

1. Distant Suns
2. Far Horizons
3. The Beckoning Void
4. Nanoångström
5. A Red Line Through Black
6. The Ghosts Which Haunt the Space Between the Stars

You can order the album here and keep up to date with news by liking Bast’s Facebook Page.