Today do I have a treat for those whose tastes range from technical to deathcore to melodic influences, for today I get to present the up and coming UK based Technical Deathcore act BELIAL and their sophomore EP Nihil Est. For fans of acts such as MESHUGGAH and THY ART IS MURDER among others, this is certainly a band worth checking out. A band whose young age but already evident skill shows great potential, and so as to not keep you in suspense I will dive right in.

 Opening with "In Extremis", the song does have a somewhat slower start to it, meaning a bit of a bland start to it after the actual opening that features and eerie haunted house esque souund, however after not long you get blasted with melodic and visceral riffs with some more electronic sounds reminiscent of bands such as BORN OF OSIRIS. While slowing down for a moment and becoming more gradual, the song never lets up on it's visceral melody and never manages to lose you. This song creates an incredible opening to this EP and whispers greatness yet to come. Following this is "Eon", which opens in a similar manner in reference to the actual opening itself. By comparison, though, this song takes almost no time to establish itself and it's melody. Having a more grandiose sound to it, the riffs and overall sound are nothing to scoff at. Complete with some amazing technical work and guitar work in general, this song indicates that the only direction this EP can go is upward, as this song blows the previous away despite the previous being great in its own right. Next up is "Ø", which, while opening in the same fashion as before, better displays the technical capabilities of the band when the song as taken as a whole. While the structuring of the song is still largely unique, my only complaint at this point is that some of the riffs begin to bleed together a bit and seem to lose some strength as a result of this. Still a strong song as a whole with some good stretches of technical showmanship.

"Odium" is the first song to deviate from the usual "eerie atmospheric" opening pattern that the band thus followed. Opting for blasting your eardrums right out the gate, the melodic guitar riffs in this song shine far more brightly in my eyes, never letting you not get lost in the song for lack of a better term. Towards the middle it drops off slightly, but overall the song is still a great one on the album. Finally the EP closes with "In Origin". As before, this song captures and enthralls you with amazing riffs and stretches of melodic and technical capabilities that show the capability of the band. While not wild in its formula for structure compared to the other songs, it still does what it strives to do incredibly well.

Considering this band formed in 2014, I feel confident in saying this band has incredible capability for what they can make in the future. I would highly recommend that if you can that you do listen to this EP and that you watch out for future releases, and I sure know that I will be looking out.