A first impression of my first time listening to HACAVITZ's fifth studio album Nex Nihil can probably be summed up in a couple words. Puss explosion. Just a ripe, sonic pimple that just explodes goo at the slightest of touches the very second you hit play. There are foaming-at-the-mouth shouts and dissonant vocal echoes bouncing off of crumbling walls, the source of the mad rants always just out of view. It's a jarring experience. HACAVITZ have been proving themselves rightful heirs of the Mexican Death Metal throne since 2005, and continue to demonstrate what superior Death Metal sounds like.

"Grimmagia" is the aforementioned 'puss explosion' I was talking about. And that ruptured blemish was no doubt infected and festering for weeks. It's a nightmarish concoction of scratchy, inflamed chords that burn their discordant notes into your ears. "Nighte" is a dreadfully heavy, blast-beat firing squad that slowly drowns Antimo Buonnano's vocals in a pit of blackened blood over the course of eight minutes. It's one of the more awful ways to go. In the foggy void of Post/Drone track "Relentless Sleep", fuzzy, sparse chords ring out in anguish then bloom into rage and screaming pain.

Nex Nihil is a journey into cursed darkness that collides with the standard Death Metal Nihilism. What is left to go mad in it ("Rabid the Moon"), but also what is forced to thrive in its ever-present wake ("Perish", "Semen Nihil"), and a call for light to come and expose what refuses to be seen. HACAVITZ is that light, while remaining the dwellers of the dark. Nex Nihil is a rabid run through the woods and a cold view of an oppressive world. HACAVITZ has plenty of crushing despair and a healthy dose of venom to deal as well. You'd do right to watch out for them!Overall: 9