Nascent is the début album from London metal project Nothing Gained, whose grinding riffs and feminine vocals show promise beneath layers of mediocre production.
Nascent starts up with half a minute of seemingly unconnected cliché goth-metal synth keys’n’strings intro, but then we’re straight into the grinding metal riffage of “Bane”. Nothing Gained’s chainsaw guitar style is topped off by Emma Finch’s vocal performance, which flips between a winsome and girly delivery to the sort of throat-ripping screams that Tairrie B has for a trademark.
Now that we have their measure, Nothing Gained stick to their chosen path; Nascent isn’t a particularly innovative album. That’s not an issue, though – innovation is rare currency right now, and there’s plenty of space for bands who can do one thing and do it well.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to quantify Nothing Gained’s delivery skills on the basis of Nascent, because the promising songs are marred by a very woolly production job. “Winter Again” has a fine driving riff, for example, but it’s completely overpowering the drumkit, and the verse vocals are flat and monotonous.
It’s not that Nascent is short on detail, either; the songwriting is competent enough, but the lack of polish is hard on the ear. “Relic” has a brisk ferocious guitar solo in the middle, but it gets rendered lifeless by the wasp-in-a-jar tone, and “Revolution” is a solid stab at an atmospheric slow number which is marred by acoustic guitars that sound like they were recorded in a rainy street on a dictaphone.
The aptly named “Harmonics” balances grindy chugging against sharp squealing lead guitar, and is probably the pick of the litter for my money, while “Broken” steps slightly out of the mould for a more alt-rock feel. Structurally, Nothing Gained fill out the standard template with some sharp rhythmic stops and drop-outs borrowed from the hardcore styles, but they feel a little forced – the tunes aren’t quite breathing on their own yet.
Nothing Gained still seem to be in search of their authentic voice, as their material comes across as a blend of their influences without a focal point or direction. I’m inclined to think they’d work better as a full-on metal act – it’s very rare I say this about any vocalist, female or otherwise, but as it stands at the moment Finch is a much better screamer than she is a singer.
While it must sound like I thought Nascent was a dreadful album, that simply isn’t the case – but I do think Nascent is an album that was made a year or so too early. Nothing Gained have got skill and ideas aplenty, but they need polish and discipline to give them a sharp edge that can put them on an equal footing with their contemporaries.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: goth, metal, Nascent, Nothing Gained
