Band:	Nadja
Album:	Queller
Style:	Ambient Drone, Doom metal
Release date:	February 17, 2014
Guest review by:	Alex F

01. Dark Circles
02. Mouths
03. Liderc
04. Quell

For those unfamiliar with the might of Nadja, let me give you a quick rundown. Aidan Baker makes more music than everyone except Senmuth. Most of it is shapeless ambient and drone that is nothing short of breathtaking, and the band has experimented with different artists, styles, and techniques that would seem unorthodox even to the most steadfast heathen. Their best release from 2014 does no different then add another impressive milestone in the seemingly endless journey Nadja are attempting to create.

Queller is, in direct contradiction with part of my opening, possibly the most structured album of this band, even maintaining defined choruses and verses at parts that seem to fluidly drift in and out of one another with majestic simplicity. The ambiance is not lost, as background synths and heavily layered guitars build an impermeable fog of mystique for the listener to indulge in. Each subsequent playthrough provides a new perspective of the album, revealing the many influences Baker and Buckareff have incorporated.

The guitars are heavily fuzzed out allowing the bass-heavy sections to take a colossal form, and forcing high-ends to ring sharply through your speakers, drawing immediate attention. The riffing (if you can even call it that) is generally a form of monotony that relies heavily on the many background aspects of the music to provide the most noticeable variation in each song. Despite the general disapproval of monotony, Nadja clearly know how to incorporate this technique to their advantage, as you drift into a state of euphoria and become engulfed by the album's full potential.

Both musicians in the band add to the vocals, and this is really where Queller proves its value in Nadja's discography. Haunting clean vocals nearly sigh out from under the thick layers of bass and guitar to slowly stir the mixture of instrumentation into a gentle swirl of bliss. Even at its harshest, the album bears highly comforting tonalities and approach.

Queller is curiously approachable, despite maintaining many of the aspects that may be off-putting about Nadja. The accessibility stems directly from the warm tones created in the production and layering of breathtaking cleans under thick distortion. Do not let the band's past push you away from listening to this 2014 release, as chances are it will simply open the doors to a world of less digestible ambient and drone for you to immerse yourself in.