As part of the ever thriving music scene in Istanbul, Ex Nihilo is making progressive moves and producing some staunch chest expanding music that is equally melodic and powerful. With his previous EP, Odium, released on Undersky Records, and now with Recoil, your eyes and ears should be intently locked towards Turkey; a bass leaden storm is imminent. "Edge Control" Somewhere in the abyss of space, nestled between crags of jagged nebulae, within the celestial arms of an elephantine galaxy, in the reach of the rays of a Sun-like star, lies an exoplanet that may harbor life; the astronaut whispers with precipitating fear but steadfast resolve, after all, they were training for this their entire lives, Edge Control, ready for blast-off. This cosmic atmosphere plays a central part in this track, from its very inception, the sci-fi-esque minor synths coupled with dub-techno pads; construct a sound that fills the listener with anticipation and a groove that is spacey and dark. The hi-hats and snares sizzle and fizzle like miniature sparks, perhaps from the astronauts shuttle, primed and ready to journey across the primordial vacuum. The bass falls like curtains in a play, preying on your ears with a chugging rumble. Throughout the track there is a perpetual rhythm that is maintained until the later part, reinstated once again after the second drop; the shuttle is finally airborne and a blanket of hope covers the astronauts, but the bleak final notes convey the uncertainty but also genuine beauty of their endeavor. "Forecheck" Crew, forecheck, the captains voice booms across the gleaming tusk white loudspeakers throughout the shuttle. Something is wrong, hydraulics arent working right; not a good place to be, especially when located just outside the edge of our solar system. The track begins with an ethereal voice joined by muffled drums and a low humming bass note, almost signifying the droning of the shuttles machines and engines. A high pitched angelic voice enters, and the melodies come in full swing, inundated by the gravity of pummeling bass. The percussion especially is very well placed, complementing the arrangement, and showcasing the screeching hydraulics, bent by the sheer speed of the shuttle. Everything dies down in the middle of the track, as if the astronauts are now repairing any faulty equipment and biding their time, with the real possibility of being stranded, marooned on a skeleton ship in the middle of an all encompassing void. Fortunately, the voice creeps back into the track, like a siren of hope, and the bass enters with a higher pitch, along with an intense stab, driving the track in full force. Power is restored, and the journey continues with newly gained fervor, for now. "Recoil" Physicists and scientists as a consensus hypothesize that intelligent life in the universe is not exclusive on Earth; this is what our crew encountered. One year into their odyssey an enigmatic object lit up their radars, shining with a frequency and speed that was unheard of; a luminous body gracefully dancing around the shuttle, with troves of star clusters blinking in the distance, enraptured by this interstellar tango. Recoil! cried the helmsman, vibrations smashed the ship the damn things shaking up the hull! We cant handle this recoil, were burning up, oxygen is depleting! A tenuous, crackling synth emerges around the listener from the opening of the track, while resonating kicks and snares vibrate the body, in tandem with the vibrations rattling and squelching the ship. The melody of the bass and synth is majestic, reassuring, and almost awe-inspiring. Groovy hi-hats give the track a bounce coupled with the constant slapping of snares, ascribing a locomotive aspect to the track that gets the whole body moving in enjoyment as well as introspective thought. Just as the assault of melody and bass reaches its peak; it suddenly levels off, trailing away in an inspiring crescendo. The helmsman was wrong, the vibrations that shook the shuttle stopped, and the readings showed that the hull was amplified with a technology that was previously never encountered; oxygen levels were at an all time high. With a final glimmer, the object disappeared from sight and radar. Such was the first encounter between extraterrestrial and human, a testament and benediction to the wonders of this glorious universe. "Sore Bond" At last, ten arduous years later, ten years filled with periods of elation, doom, imminent catastrophe, and sometimes dire tedium, our space faring ambassadors reached the solar system containing the exoplanet, humanitys last hope for survival. They perched themselves above the ships computers, waiting for the surface readings of the planet to finally see if it could support human life. The answer was a resounding yes. Champagne bottles stored from Earth were popped open, tears of joy flowed like waterfalls, reflecting the vast torrents of freshwater found on the surface of the planet. Success, it was true success, the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment that a person only hopes to achieve in their lifetime, the sentiment of content that one desires to have on their deathbed. A cold, minimal pad surrounds the listener from the outset of the track, spiced up by the head nodding rhythm of the drums and rhythmic bass. A rising synth is introduced, along with machine like hi-hat patterns, and a slowly rising dub-techno vibe. The interlude and the second drop are epic, in the entirety of the word; they impart a pioneering, exploratory atmosphere to the track and a feeling of closure, from the eastern guitar melody, to the voices that linger in the background, forming a wonderful polyphony of sounds. In the end, the sounds slowly decouple from each other, with only the synth melody remaining, in a sense symbolizing the cut-off point between these pioneers and their previous relationship with the Earth; the shattering of this Sore Bond. ______Review by Jason Nikolaidis aka Omacatl