Doom Bass, Aggrotech Death Metal, Blacktronica, whatever you want to call it, Antania is tearing apart the industrial scene. Some of the rumors revolving around this project remind me of the early days of Slipknot. Antania is currently super hot, blurring genres going from co-support for Industrial masters Suicide Commando to joining Black Metal masters Marduk in Japan.
For those new to Antani, Antania’s music is a fusion of bass and death metal, creating a unique sound that’s been described as “AGGROTECH Death Metal” or “Doom Bass.” Their latest release, “3AM 666”features songs like “Pigz” and “Sewn” showcasing their ability to blend heavy basslines with intense metal elements without using and or sampling any stringed instruments, this is blackened bass music. Their new single DAHM2 might be one of the hottest singles I have heard in awhile. It’s sublime darkness!
Not being satisfied with heavy as merely blazing fast double-bass with even faster guitar solos, I require something out of left field with a great deal of sonic intensity. Antania’s brand of sludged-out blackened bass and death metal fits the bill. Live these guys just brutalize you with sound and they hardly even move. It’s a sonic annihilation that left the audience at our venue in a trance.
3AM 666: At first listen, what Antania does might seem like a novel concept…”Oh yeah, the producer Doc Luna, is the dude that plays with machines made with KAT percussion”. Two albums in, that novelty has to be taken out of the equation to leave the focus on the songs. Antania delivers in this regard, while working against the abrasive buzz saw that tends to dominate his sound.
There is a more metallic nastiness to the rasp of Kali Mortem’s voice on the 3AM 666 release. It’s venomous and dangerous sounding.
“Blood Love” was the first song I heard going into the album and it is also more metallic in its intent. Dr Luna sticks to his KAT-made devices of torture to temper his sonic sadism. The booming pulse of the beat relaxes a little more than in the earlier songs, with other layers of melody winding around it. Antania employs various noises to replicate what a drummer might do on the hi-hat.
She sings with melody on Dahm”. This one dials the intensity back, though it would have been difficult for them to have taken it up even further from the previous songs. Even with more melodic touches the music throbs until the song collides into a wall of noise that is plunged underwater.
“Pigz” is not as abrasive as its title might hint. Instead, it has more of a pounding anthem theme, before the sung vocal hook comes in. The beat to “Sewn” has a bigger, darker thump recalling more of this project’s earlier work, though more attention is given to the repetitious bass Destruction, while “Stalker” merges the newer blown-out distorted drone of what Antania is doing now with the more electronic pound that marked their earlier stuff.
Overall, this album is really strong. It is certainly Antania’s heaviest release, and it sits well against their reputation of a dark black project. Fans will not be disappointed.
It’s so commonplace for bands to say, “This is our heaviest album yet”. In this case it might be true; it is certainly the most metallic. The aggression is dense and oppressive with the vocals making it more personal. Antania has found a great balance of mood and chunky distorted bass lines from hell
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