I remember the first time I saw Nott live. I was very familiar with Julia Geaman, the amazing drummer for gothic death doom band Tribunal, but then was a bit surprised to see only one other person on stage, frontman and 8-string guitarist Tyler Campbell. I had listened to Nott’s previous album from 2023, “Hiraeth,” and found it intriguing, but I wondered how it would translate to a live setting. By the time their dizzingly heavy set was complete, I was a believer, and the duo delivered an absolutely incredible show. I enjoyed “Hiraeth” and found its mix of intense brutality and atmosphere well done and a bit unique, but I didn’t find myself returning to it frequently, moreso because I rarely venture into this level of heavy for my regular listening. I saw Nott perform at Armstrong Metal Fest last month, and when I spoke with Tyler after his set, he said he wanted this new release to be even more atmospheric and heavy. With “As All Is Undone,” Nott’s latest full length, not only do I think this duo has accomplished this, but they have crafted a record that I think is a huge step forward from their previous album while also being one of the heaviest things I have heard in a long time.

There are definitely a number of influences here, but if I were to take a shot at a semi simple descriptor, I would label this as atmospheric blackened sludge. The atmosphere is thick and heavy, a cloud hanging over every song providing ominous texture and depth. The pace biases toward the slow side while amping up the brutality, treading a sludgy doom path that flirts with a deathcore crawl feel at times, just without ever feeling very “core.” Tyler wields an 8-string and puts it to good use, delivering nasty down tuned riffs that will bludgeon your skull and induce forced headbanging. The lead guitarwork is minimal, instead relying on the atmosphere and drums to add motion to the wall of sound, allowing it to remain insanely heavy without getting stale. The drums at times feel almost like a lead instrument and a placebo for the lack of lead guitar, with a variety of rhythms and fills that act as an opposing force to the thick guitar riffs. Julia is a phenomenal drummer, and she really shines on this album, whether improvising in the slower sludgier sections or coming unhinged on the blasting sections. I get lost at times just admiring the majesty of the drums on this album, and they are a true difference maker in just how good and listenable this album is. The use of atmosphere and dynamics are also difference makers that keep each song interesting, particularly the false stops and restarts and massive volume shifts. Tyler’s vocals are absolutely beastly, gutteral roars and blackened screams from the pits of hell that will make the hair stand up on your arms, melding perfectly with the sonic assault. This album will hit you like a sledgehammer, pummel until you cannot breathe, relax and lull you into a dream state that quickly turns into nightmare, and then destroy you again.

“I Still Feel You Here” bludgeons you out of the gate with powerful riffs heading into a sludgey doomy crawl soaked in atmosphere as Tyler’s wicked gutterals destroy your ears. After the initial pummeling, things get quiet, entering a dreamy shoegaze section with ethereal vocals that turn ghastly, developing into what I can best describe as “sludgegaze,” maintaining the dreamy atmosphere and juxtaposing it against the gnarliest of riffs. The song maintains this slower pace throughout, letting the drums do the heavy rhythmic lifting while the guitars continue to waylay your ears with crushing chugs. This song works great as an intro, not opening its full bag of tricks just yet while giving you a taste of what is to come.

“Under the Weight” starts with eerie dissonance, then carries that forward into a blackened doom slog over blastbeats and pounding drums. Julia kept the drumming a bit simpler on the first song, but here she absolutely lets loose, acting like a lead instrument against the deafening 8-string assault. She alternates various fills and rhythms and even occasionally blasts, adding extra depth and texture that work well with the brutally ominous melodies. As the song approaches the ending, it slows things way down, making the song even heavier. I dare say the second half of this song is some of the heaviest, gnarliest destruction I have heard in quite some time, particularly the ending. Brutality sandwiches dissonant atmospheric sections, Julia continues keeping you on your toes with her drum calisthenics, and false starts and stops destroy you with deafening precision. 

But wait, “Show Me the End” starts and makes me look like a fool. Apocalyptic atmosphere is broken by alternating blastbeats and a long winded beastly growl. A brief sludgey section begets a short reprise of the intro, then gets super nasty before all hell breaks loose, Julia blasting for her life juxtaposed against Tyler’s slower chugs. This song makes great use of start and stop dynamics to build urgency and misdirection, keeping you guessing as to what is next. The final two minutes see the guitars slowly riff amidst bleeding feedback before letting the drums back in slow deliberate fashion, a stark dichotomy to the blastbeat fest we just experienced. It never ceases to amaze me just how heavy Nott can be even at the much slower tempos, and this atmosphere-heavy blackened sludge assault bludgeons you until the end.

The title track, “As All Is Undone,” starts ethereal and ghastly, almost like a horror soundtrack prepping you for the next jump scare, and a brief pause yields 8-string madness. The atmosphere is pervasive, complementing Tyler’s blackened demonic roars, heavy guitar chugs, and powerful drumming. One mechanic I love is how the underlying dark melody acts as a harmony to the harsh vocals, creating an unsettling but cool effect that works quite well as the song progresses. Eventually, the instruments drop out and yield to eerie orchestration, before a beastly sludge crawl destroys you. A reprise of the intro transitions to even heavier chaos, dragging you kicking and screaming to the end.

“Unraveling” is a short instrumental that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror or apocalyptic movie soundtrack, not unlike most of the orchestration on the album. It provides the calm before the storm of “An Eternal Ache,” which practically has a first wave of black metal feel as it blazes ahead at lightning speed from the opening second, massive blastbeats driving a muddled wall of sound accompanying sinister vocals. It slows down while maintaining the brutality, then enters an apocalyptic section of permeating atmosphere with massive guitars and pummeling drums breaking through at different times, eventually converging into sludgey doom. Things quiet and slow, providing the horror movie equivalent of sludgegaze, nightmarish in its ethereal intensity.  From here the song lays the atmosphere on thick, Tyler’s brutal gutterals supported by massive chugs and huge drum hits that just feel heavier and more aggressive than the tempo would seem to allow. This singlehandedly may be one of the heaviest songs I have heard in quite some time while being extremely multidimensional. And yes, I realize I have made this claim a few times in this review. Needless to say, this album is HEAVY!

Closer “To Be Without” picks the pace back up, driving drums and guitars within an encompassing dissonance. It has a long minute plus intro before vocals enter the fray, a roar emerging from the depths transitioning into a snarling verse over the same cadence. The song keeps this faster pace, with good use of start and stop dynamics, until the start of the second half when the sludge enters, thickening the pace and upping the heft. Around four minutes the volume drops, light clean guitar strums accompanied by light tribal percussion, before the wall of sound bludgeons you again in a sludgy polymetric crawl, the guitars and drums acting as diametric forces battling to the end.

Nott as a band is very different from my normal musical intake, and yet I cannot get enough of the grisly heft and atmospheric goodness this album delivers. “As All Is Undone” is nasty, gnarly, and utterly brutal, but it remains fresh and interesting with the amazing drumming, eerie melodies, and dissonant atmosphere. If you like heavy and atmospheric that is unique, you should absolutely give this album a listen! And remember when I said I didn’t find myself revisiting the previous album as much? I will definitely be revisiting this one, particularly when I want my dose of super heavy!