NIHSAHSHSAH

Drastically positive and aggressive. Exactly via their 'controversial' debut album, we can hear lots of "meditative eastern sounds blended with drone, prog and psychedelia" according to their words. Also through the sleeve of their debut opus, their massive orientalism and ethnicity (maybe from the northern faraway nations) are active and vivacious all around. We the audience cannot help feeling something like their longing or admiration for Oriental musical culture and courtesy, and it's mysterious I (a Japanese) feel quite natural in their orientalische soundscape. That means, HASHSHASHIN's highly-qualified creation and highly-potentialized creativity should notify us that they play in a pretty natural manner.

Especially in the second track "The Ascetic" we can be beaten by complicated polyrhythmic beats produced by Evan's drumming and Cameron's bass playing. The melody lines are also quirky and edgy regardless of repetitive psychedelic phrases but clearly make full use of ethnic appearances. Their vibes make an invasion into our inner mind so swiftly and drench us in such a muddy atmosphere at one stroke. It's excellent that complex melodic / rhythmic structures do not break nor dissect the mainstream of this song. Battles of drums and guitars in the following track "Immoration" are splendid too. Their sound unification is perfectly solid, precise and unwavering. We cannot help but be surprised at their productivity. On the contrary, the first shot "Prostration" sounds much more meditative and psychic than other ones. Three-minute meditation should be appropriate for our preparation to authentic heavy shoegaze-y psychedelia.

My favourite is "Disintegration" that gets started with a magical tribal chorus (or chant?), followed by deeply sticky sound venoms just like Dark Buddha Rising. Quite impressive and immersive we can notice as if our mindset would collapse and melt down to the ground. Kinda short track gives us colourful kaleidoscopic hallucinations. On the other hand the previous (and the longest) one "Levitation" gives us a powerful diversity veiled in depressive dissonance. We enjoy speedy distortions, quiet psychic fantasies, and funky punksy movements simultaneously in the song. What a gorgeous one. Another smooth straight bomb can be attached in "Derge", filled with a post-metallic atmosphere. This song might be the most straightforward one in the opus, I guess. Such purity is good too. The last "Rebirth" is a sort of problematic one (in a fantastic sense) ... the latter phase is full of Lachlan's fuzzy guitar grandeur and creepy whispers just like the end of a human life. This contrast drives us into madness again.

Recommended for fans of post-rock ethnicity and eternity.