N.S.T. @ PopMatters’ Ragnarök: 2012 Gloomy Awards

We’re stoked that N.S.T. has made it into PopMatters’ Ragnarök: 2012 Gloomy Awards!

It always feels great when we find out that fellow music lovers are carried away and inspired by our music and concept. Thanks Craig!

Dephosphorus: Night Sky Transform

Greek trio Dephosphorus’s second full-length Night Sky Transform contains elements of grindcore, death metal, black metal, sludge, noise rock and post-hardcore—the blending of all being highly dexterous and original. The album’s conceptual arc tackled big ideas. Gazing into the cosmos, Dephosphorus asked deep questions about our place in the universe, wrapping that inquiry around grinding, angular and aggressive tunes that rapidly shifted tempo and veered off to encompass those myriad metallic styles. Underpinning all was an evolving search for meaning that fearlessly ignored genre and defied categorization, with the band harnessing whatever tools it required to investigate the unknowable. Innovation and introspection were the keys to Night Sky Transform‘s attraction. Dephosphorus had impressed with,Axiom, its astro-grinding debut, but Night Sky Transformwasn’t so much a ‘one small step’ forward, more a ‘giant leap’. From production, arrangement and delivery to its meteoric impact, Night Sky Transform was imaginative and intelligent, melding philosophic and scientific uncertainties into formidable and inventive action.

See also: Cosmos & Culture, Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context by Steven J Dick and Mark L Lupisella (a free NASA e-book that inspired the band), Cold Womb Descent ( Rise of Ldaovh, an ambient project crafted by two astronomers, and influenced by “astral creations and clouds of cosmic dust”) and VagusNerve, with its kosmische, feedbacking interstellar jaunt (Go Back to the Sirius).