"With Love, From Nihil": Thief Steals Your Metal Soul and Shapes it Anew

July 8, 2019

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The metal spirit can be found everywhere, even anywhere. While there’s a slew of non-metal which, by whatever form it happens to take, still retains strong appeal to the yearning metal spirit within us. Of course, our minds as a whole typically desire and explore a variety of genres; the raw and ethereal impetus, though, to indulge in metal’s extremity is what some non-metal music is really adept at tapping into. It’s a nifty approach, really, scratching the metal scratch but without the usual razor-sharp steel claw. This isn’t to say that any of this non-metal-but-still-sorta-metal was intended to be as such; it’s more of a phenomenon of how we select music based on mood, desire, and other factors, many of which drive us to listen to, well, heavy metal with or without its usual trappings.

“Green metal” project Botanist is a strong name indeed, especially for what we’re talking about here — Dylan Neal, a dulcimer player for Botanist, is the brainchild for dark electronic project Thief. This might immediately bring to mind one thing, but rest assured, it’ll be something much different indeed. Thief is set to release their sophomore full-length Map of Lost Keys later this month, an 11-track doozy of blended atmospherics, slow and somber melodies, and so much more. Check out a new music video for the album’s sixth track “With Love, From Nihil” below.

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This song in particular really echoes within itself: resonating deep, horrible darkness among ominous synthwork and plenty of vocal layering. Other tracks on Map of Lost Keys could be characterized as “more dancy,” though that would imply some type of sensationally dour dance. Perhaps “more groove” would suffice, to help characterize “With Love, From Nihil,” which showcases Thief’s much more experimentally ambient side. And it’s these two poles that Map of Lost Keys marries beautifully: that of the grim retreat into corners, and that of the anxious emergence therefrom. Thief’s work here is surely exemplary, but most will soon find out that this project welcomes gladly the deepest emotional voids metal is known for housing.

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