Artist: Nebunam
Title: A Winters Tale
Type: Album
Label: Karge Welten Kunstervalg

Two songs clocking in at over twenty-five minutes and a drum machine is very much the order of the day on this bold EP from German duo Nebunam. Adopting a style that seems to straddle the line between the oft-derided ‘symphonic’ moniker and the more pastoral, soaring Eastern European-inspired sound (think Drudkh for example), Ben and Manuel have put together an intriguing brace of ideas that whilst brave, ultimately fall apart under the weight of their own ambitions. ‘A Winter’s Tale’ is clearly intended to be the standout piece here and opens confidently with a cascading, symphonic passage that moves gracefully between chords and raises expectations considerably. Sadly, around the five minute mark, the wheels begin to wobble slightly with some ill-advised blackthrash before falling off completely when the ‘spooky’ spoken words vocals kick in. We then have a minute or so of lone guitar noise before we’re back on firmer territory with the (by now overplayed) opening riff ushering us out.

By then though, the damage has been done. The whole experience is rather like someone throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. With ‘A Winters Tale’, ‘Nebunam’ seem to be trying to concoct a ‘best of’ of the black metal bands that they like and it really does not work. At all. Which makes the second track ‘Sturm’ all the more baffling because, quite frankly, it pisses all over it’s predecessor. No-nonsese blast-fuelled searing fury underpinned by melody is the name of the game here, droning, hypnotic and convincing. Hate Forest springs immediately to mind, as do the UK’s very own Wodensthrone with the droning riffwork giving powerful propulsion to emotive, righteous rage.

I don’t know - perhaps Nebunam are aiming to showcase the whole spectrum of their talents on this EP, to give a listener a taste of everything they have in their arsenal - in which case, I would advise them immediately to jettison the progressive, ‘atmospheric’ side as it is about as combat effective as a limp lettuce leaf. ‘Sturm’ showcases their real firepower and I would advise our two protagonists to mine this furrow as much as they can in future to maximise sonic impact.

http://www.myspace.com/nebunam