Band:	Umbra Nihil
Album:	Gnoia
Style:	Doom metal, Progressive metal
Release date:	May 11, 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. Words Left Unspoken
02. Fear Of The Void
03. Gnoia
04. Nocturnal Occurences
05. Shields Down
06. The Dreams In The Witch-House
07. Fade Out

Umbra Nihil comes from the frozen lands of Finland, and if you don't already know them, you must know that the band plays Doom Metal. And if you just want and a name: Markus Marjomaa of Aarni even plays in this combo. This young Doom combo comes today with their first album, "Gnoai", a nice beginning for a talented band.

The guys of the band say that bands like Unholy, Cathedral, Paradise Lost or even The Gathering influence them. This is definitely right because if we can find a classic Doom/Death Metal in this album, this is also really easy to see that the music is really influenced by an Atmospheric spirit. When you'll listen to "Gnoai" you'll probably be touched by the excellent depressive ambiances in opposition of the anger that we can also find on the songs. This is a good opposition in my opinion.

On the other hand, all is not perfect. If Aarni is a master of originality for me, this is not the case of Umbra Nihil. Oki, we cannot really compare those 2 bands but Markus Marjomaa is here and it's not so easy to avoid the comparison. Be careful however, in any case, I don't say that Umbra Nihil is a bad band at the opposite, but it's just a bit too much classic. Not too that the lyrics deal with HP. Lovecraft stories, and it's evidently something perfect for the Doom Metal.

However during 60 mins, you'll find a cool Doom Metal album, not the most original thing ever but it's good don't worry, and when I see the quality of this first album I believe that we could have some great things in the future. We have a great potentiality here (this is not a real surprise when I see the line-up) and I'm ready to bet some money on this Finnish Metal act. Do you like Doom Metal? Yes? Then in that case support Umbra Nihil and buy their first album Gnoai that deserves all our attention.