BAHIMIRON

It is USBM southern style on BAHIMIRON's second full-length release, "Southern Nihilizm". The act is another in a long line of evildoers from the Lone Star State that play a distinctly Texas style of dangerously hot black metal that offer one images of decomposing bodies baking in 105-degree temperatures, no doubt the victims of ritual sacrifice. Leaning toward the chaotic, marginally unconventional side of the black metal line, BAHIMIRON noticeably take their cues from the BEHERIT school of unsettling song structures that stink to high, um, heaven of putridity and iniquity. More often than not it works relatively well, though not always in an attention-grabbing sort of way.

"Southern Nihilizm" is one of those vibe albums geared toward folks seeking atmospheric balefulness and a calamitous drum/guitar attack with vocals that never settle into a pattern, but instead swirl around in a cacophonous manner. Fast the evening before, drink several cups of coffee, and then play the album and try to stand still for more than 15 seconds without grinding your teeth and muttering incomprehensible praises to Beelzebub. The quick-paced material, such as "A Shank in the Guts", does get the blood boiling, but is the steady-paced material like "Pillz and 90 Proof" that the act excels at putting a chill in the air, even at sizzling temperatures, by allowing the riff plenty of space in which to work.

The style heard on "Southern Nihilizm" can either invigorate by enhancing the dark trances of the chemically altered or grow tiring, even agitating, by the halfway point. Here again, it is all about the vibe and to that end BAHIMIRON succeeds. Not for the casual black metal listener.