Nominon – The Cleansing
While their debut album did not appear until 1999, Nominon in one form or another has been nailing coffins since their demo days of 1993, and though their name may not be as familiar as some of their Swedish brethren, after The Cleansing it damn well should be.
Yes, Swedish-style Death Metal has resurfaced with a vengeance, with wannabe Entombed/Dismember/etc clones breeding like maggots. And, as with any resurgence of an art form, some are good, most are bad, but often those that have been churning out the darkness the longest tend to steamroll the rookies. Nominon’s new album couldn’t have arrived in a better environment, slapping the earlobes of the less experienced with riffs of hell-sludge that grease the rails of of Per Karlson’s anvil-slamming drumwork. Henke Skoog’s vocals spew forth from an appropriately mid-range place, suiting well the low-toned, sawing guitars. Alex Lyrbo’s leads are tasteful but not intrusive, entering and exiting the melee at the right moments without overstaying their welcome, all while Juha Sulasami’s bass lurks menacingly below the maelstrom. Together, Nominon’s onslaught gurgles like something dying facedown in a Swedish back alley puddle. Not to say that DM tropes are the only items on display here; scattered, open-chorded riffs played high on the neck throw icy black metal hints in a few areas (as in the track ‘Mausoleum’), giving just enough cold color to the humid warmth of The Cleansing for the album to help justify a modest ‘original’ tag it scarcely needs, for the songs themselves kill well enough without even that enticement.
From the excellent evil and old-school cover art to the demonic darkness this album inhabits, Nominon’s latest delivers Death Metal with a capital D, nothing more, nothing less, and at a level that can only be called professional. For a poser-killing playlist, immerse yourself in the filth of The Cleansing. -Jim
Deathgasm Records
Worm Gear 
I was a little surprised by how cool some of these riffs are. Definitely worth listening to. It made me go back and listen to their last one again also… 🙂
I hear ya! Fortunately Marty’s got a ton of their back catalog in the bindrune distro … looks like I have money to spend \m/
Prior to this review I had not heard any of Nominon’s material before. I checked out a couple of their songs and really dug what I heard. Nice riff heavy death metal. I will probably have to check out an album or two by these guys. Besides “The Cleansing” is there anything else that you would recommend?
Definitely check out Monumentomb…although I think this new one is better.