NYIA — Head Held High (review)

NYIA — Head Held High album cover Album · 2004 · Grindcore Buy this album from MMA partners
1/5 ·
Conor Fynes
'Head Held High' - Nyia (2/10)

In my search of obscure progressive metal from around the world, I came across this Polish band; Nyia, whose name apparently comes from an ancient demon of death. With this fairly formulaic name choice out of the way, I can briefly mention that the band came out with two albums before becoming inactive. While I always hope to find albums and music out there that blows my mind, or albums that I can recommend to other music lovers out there, Nyia's debut 'Head Held High' is not one such album. Although the band's Gorguts- esque brand of experimentation with the death metal sound can be lauded and appreciated, this brief and rough album seems to only ever hint at good things, without actually making them happen.

Nyia's style seems to follow the setup laid out a decade earlier by Gorguts with their 'Obscura' album; dissonant riffs, barking death vocals, and the general sense that these musicians are making no effort to make their music accessible in any shape or form. However, as far as the masterpiece 'Obscura' went, it had that unrelenting sense of originality and pioneering vigour on its side, and each song was given time to flesh out and develop into a quasi-jazz metal powerhouse. To Nyia's credit, it would be unfair to call them a Gorguts clone, as they do have a heavier grind sound to them as well, but I am finding that Nyia is not doing much new with the sound. In terms of the actual musicianship of the band, it is clear that these guys are all very good at what they do (with the possible exception of vocalist Bogdan Kondracki, whose scream passes me as being soulless) but the sound is held back greatly by some fairly horrible production. Considering that the music is fairly technically accomplished, it is a real shame that the recording quality obscures most of what is really happening. It is really unfortunate that the album is hurt so much by its production, although I can't imagine there would be much more than only a mediocre progressive death metal album here otherwise. The songs are all very brief, and never go very far. And on the subject of vocals, Bogdan Kondracki's mix of growling and mild speaking hurts the instrumentation, especially due to the fact that it is mixed higher than any of the instruments.

Nyia's debut is a poor album for many reasons, although there are good things- like the technicality- that show potential for the act. Luckily, the very aptly titled sophomore 'More Than You Expect' would be a massive improvement over this.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Besra – Unsullied (Music Video)
BESRA
Bosh66· 8 hours ago
Tethered - Breathe (Official Video)
TETHERED
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Walking The Blade (OFFICIAL VISUALIZER)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - The Negative (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Drowning feat. Taylor Barber (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed