Wednesday, 15 June 2022

AHFHAOTA by Nahja Mora


 “It’s a horror show“ is how Josef Saint from the Baltimore based band Nahja Mora describes their new album AHFHAOTA.  A dark ride exploring some very personal subjects the album is meant to be a warning to the listener.  With a dissonant and off-kilter feel the album is a gloomy descent. 

 The lyrics on the album are ad-libbed except for the track “One Day” which was based on a poem written by Saint when he was a teenager and “Give Way To Shadow” which is another version of a song from As Death. 

“ONE DAY” feels like embarking on a twisted journey with confusion setting in as the song progresses.  “Give Way To Shadow” (Reprise)  drags the listener into what sounds like a demented dystopic carnival with a rhythmic, skewed sound.  “the scene is set” confronts the listener with disturbing and pleading intonations, further heralding the dark ride they have started on.  With threatening voices and a paranoid beat “Ash Grey World” pulls the listener further into a dark sort of madness.  “Scatter” is filled with gnarled, hellish sounds that have an unsettling effect.  “down” accosts the listener with a repetitive industrial sound and a distorted soundscape.  With a dramatic symphonic rise  “The Bleeding” hurries the listener to a still darker place.  “Summary Vile” teases and taunts the listener with a buzzing distortion that feels like an accompaniment to madness.  A dizzying and disorientating soundscape greets the listener in “windchime”.  “to the dawn a Knife” uses an industrial clanging that feels like a polluted heart beat to take the listener to a deeper place of despair.  Nightmarish voices and a disturbingly askew and taunting sound accompanies the listener in “Cairo Aflame”. Finally  “in the Field”  gives a moment of nature and lucidity before plunging the listener still further into a bleak and gloomy place. 

Though AHFHAOTA explores a breakdown of self,  Saint suggests that “The point is we have to take care of one another”.  


Links: 

Youtube : (102) Nahja Mora - Ash World Grey - YouTube

Webpage: Nahja Mora 

No comments:

Post a Comment