Liste der Bands Grind Death Nolentia May the Hand That Holds the Match That Will Set This World on Fire Be Blessed Above All

May the Hand That Holds the Match That Will Set This World on Fire Be Blessed Above All. Don’t blame me for writing just this once but Nolentia’s second album has too long a name. It’s actually a bit misleading considering how short most of the tracks are on this record. Because Nolentia play Grindcore and not Post-Rock as both title and the hipster cover art would maybe suggest. Initially I thought that’s what it was, Post-Rock, with this resemblance in the cover to Godspeed You Black Emperor’s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven or the longish name like ASMZ’s He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… both Constellations acts well known in the genre. But no, Nolentia is nothing even remotely close musically to these two bands.

The French band which had released its debut back in 2009 hail from Toulouse and are well known there for playing initially some kind of Grind n’ Roll. “May the” is however showing signs of another direction. As both title and art suggest, the intention is a bit more intellectual and inside the music is proof of that change as well. Mixing the classicism of bands like Wormrot with the more elaborate sound of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Nolentia deliver conscious Grindcore.

Tracks are obviously rather short (it’s Grindcore, mind you) and the guitars feature tones quite similar to the already mentioned Wormrot mixed with some Prong on steroids. The drumming and the bass play are fine and recorded distinctly and you can tell it’s not some cheap rehearsals coming from one of these guys’ basements. The double vocal aggression is effective in having you want to throw various objects around, guttural vocals here and higher-pitched screams there. A well rounded formula in Grindcore, but that always does the trick.

Only on the last track, The Second Principle, do these guys quite drop the tempo giving us something rather close to Sludge than Grindcore which you could compare to Highgate or Fleshpress.

With this new album available on French label Kaotoxin, Nolentia should be able to widen their fanbase given the obvious qualities displayed here. It’s not groundbreaking but the sheer violence and the professional output of their music on “May the” are a huge improvement over their past recordings.