Nephren-Ka - From Agony To Transcendence

This time, I'm gonna review a French brutal death metal band's album which is unique one for me after a while. It's really specific and I really congrats to them. I really admire their stuff.

"From Agony To Transcendence" is Nephren-Ka's third full-length album which is released in 2021, June via Dolorem Records (a French label).

If you like distorted music that there isn't any gap between the songs, you're listening to a good one. each second of the songs is some kind of drill. Totally I like everything about this album except some parts of vocals and the mixing and mastering. The main vocal lines could sound much heavier but it sound so dry. It's the engineer's favorite but it's not my type. It's in your face but I think it's bothering.

Anyway, let's check the album track by track.

The album begins with very fabulous-grinding riffs and the tempo begins to rip your brain off and I really enjoyed the tempo of this song. It has been chosen correctly. It wouldn't be better if it was faster or slower. That's so damn enough. 3:36 of real brutality. One of this album's points is the sound of drum kit. I really like it. in this track you can hear the enjoyable sound of drums.

Second track brings you brain chaos which is great. Good riffs, good vocal line's pattern. Solo was good but it could be much better and killer. 2:52 – end is my favorite section of this track.

Track three brings you the HELL and in this track you can still enjoy the bass sound and let you ears be ruined by it. From 3:00 the new verse (or bridge or whatever they mean) is majestic. The breakdown is good and I think they want to confirm the illusion of some kind of science-fiction thing.

'Sedition' has a good intro with bomb blasting on drums and fantastic fast-grind riffs and it doesn't let you to get down. Melodic guitar line is lush. Bass is completely hearable and it's so cool to listen to bass clearly. Solo at the end reminds me Morbid Angel…Without any problem or mistake.

Fifth track… wow… it is prodigious… vocals are much better in this song. Bass line is like a damn hammer on down-tempo sections. Everything is in its own right place. Solo is technical and the wah pedal has been used on time and enough. The scales he used are graceful.

'Levenbrech Sardaukar' is another piece of this puzzle. It's like a machine-gun which has targeted your brain's core to kill. TATATATATATA… damn… it's like a delicious food that you want to eat it for each meal.

Take a breath for the next track…

Seventh track… its intro is completely sweet till it starts to suffer and hang your neck. I can feel some black style on riffs and that's ok. It's fine not to be in a same line in every song.

Track eight includes the same thing that I've mentioned in previous sentences. The special thing about this track is the ending. The doom part and its atmosphere give you some time to think about nothing and darkness.

The last one is called 'Sea Of Sand'. Snare is crashing with your nerve… again the same speedy style but this time I can hear bass is tapping on some parts… last section of the song is good that they play the same riff which has been used at the beginning of the song.

Well… In general, this album is a killer but in my opinion, it has some defects. As I mentioned before… vocals and mixing and mastering are not good enough and could be better. I mean vocals should be some kind of wet (by add it some reverb or something) and about mixing, some parts you can't hear the guitars clearly… maybe it's the studio guy's idea and it is respectful. Wish them the best. Hope to hear more from them.

4 / 5 STARS


1. l'Abomination
2. Corioli Storm
3. l'Agonie De l'Épice
4. Sedition
5. Vision Of The Secher Nbiw
6. Levenbrech Sardaukar
7. Conspiracy For The Fall Of The Atreides And The Reclaim Of The Golden Lion's Throne
8. Abu Dhur Le Père Des Routes Indéfinies Du Temps
9. Sea Of Sand