YAYLA — Nihaihayat (review)

YAYLA — Nihaihayat album cover Album · 2013 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
J-Man
Released in early 2013, Nihaihayat is the fourth offering of bleakness and despair from one-man ambient black metal act Yayla. Yayla is the brainchild of Turkish musician Emir Toğrul, who plays all of the instruments here in addition to composing the material. Although Yayla has released four albums over the past two years, Nihaihayat is my introduction to its music - and, if truth be told, I can't say I was won over quite as much as some other reviewers. One-man ambient black metal acts are a dime a dozen these days, and although Nihaihayat does some things right, it doesn't establish Yayla as one of the genre's more memorable acts as far as I'm concerned.

Borrowing plenty of inspiration from the template illustrated by Burzum on albums like Filosofem and Hvis Lyset Tar Oss, Nihaihayat is a very repetitive album with minimalistic production values, foreboding atmospheres, ambient sections, and fairly sloppy musicianship. This isn't an album for those into more aggressive forms of black metal; the primary focus of Yayla's music seems to create a desolate atmosphere, and in that regard, it certainly succeeds. The entire observation (which lasts for nearly 52 minutes) creates a feeling of claustrophobia and loneliness in its listener, and I have no doubt that Emir Toğrul intended for these emotions to evoked. My biggest gripe with Nihaihayat is that it is just too long and repetitive, as the album's lengthy running time leads to a fair amount of boredom towards the second half - the riffs here simply don't have the same level of memorability as a classic Burzum or Darkthrone record, and their heavy repetition can make for a rather disengaging listen. The drum programming is also a bit of a downer, although the production is so lo-fi that it might be hard to notice unless you've previously read lineup information.

The ambient portions of Nihaihayat are well-executed (the opening track “Integumental Grasp” sets the mood for the album perfectly), but the black metal feels rather sloppy and sub-par to these ears. Though it is undoubtedly effective in its atmosphere, the album fails to captivate me as a listener and will often times leave me bored and uninterested. Fans of ambient black metal in the vein of Burzum might want to check this out, but I personally don't find the level of quality here to be within the same league.
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