Location: New South Wales
Country: Australia
Genre: Progressive extreme metal
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release date: October 25, 2025
Nexus Inhabitum was formed by members of the Australian thrash/black metal band Insoulence that, as far as I know, released just one full-length, “Death of All Fools,” in 2016. The album is streaming on Insoulence’s YouTube profile, alongside demos and rehearsal clips. For a hidden gem that made little impact at the time, it’s a useful starting point for tracing the musicians’ earlier work.
Across nine tracks, “Death of All Fools” blended late 80s thrash, early-90s death metal and dark, atmospheric grit, foreshadowing the direction of Nexus Inhabitum’s debut EP “Through the Eyes of Madness.” On this album Insoulence favored rapid-fire riffs, thrashy hooks and intricate, slightly melodic structures, often colored by a goth-symphonic feel evocative of Cradle of Filth and Moonspell.
The songs had a flair for extravagant pageantry, with unexpected note sequences sometimes emerging mid-song. Rather than over-privileging anything, the band treated each subgenre they drew from as equally suited to the feel they sought to create. “Spiritual Deprivation” and “Death of All Fools” were the most forward-looking tracks, hinting at the resourcefulness Nexus Inhabitum would bring to their debut. Insoulence’s free form technique even made covering Cannibal Corpse’s “Hammer Smashed Face” seem like an easy task.
Nexus Inhabitum carries forward the dexterity and grandeur of Insoulence, writing enough into the four tracks of “Through the Eyes of Madness” to make the EP feel like a complete album. Originally formed as a memorial project for a friend who passed away from a botched surgery, they grew to a band paying tribute to subgenres of metal they grew up with. Like their previous band, Nexus Inhabitum is not partial to any particular subgenre, nor do they align themselves with any particular metal scene. Group think and the absence of critical thought are the reasons the band prefer to write for themselves.
Recorded over a period of two years, it starts with a straightforward black-metal mode, with simple chords, tremolo picking and a triplet beat, before moving toward blazing lead guitars and melodic vocal harmonies enhanced at the end of a line with guttural vocals. After two verses, just as you're convinced you know where things are going, things take an unexpected turn; classical acoustic guitars, light percussion, haunting whispers and keyboards usher in a mood of brooding sagacity. This gradually flows back to the earlier pattern, its restraint being an unusual counterpoint to the melodic vocals.
That was the EP’s opening track “…And United We Fall.” From there on, Nexus Inhabitum lean a little less on death and thrash metal, concentrating on blast beats, black metal chords and tremolo picking, punctuating their songs with unconventional lead guitars. They test new songwriting ideas with classical and neo-classical acoustic passages in two more tracks, “Ode to Kill” and “Defiance,” opening the latter track with shadowy, supernatural keyboards (this track likewise ends with a keyboard part that recalled Cradle of Filth.
The songs, inspired by the occult, divination, the unconscious, individuality, and lived experiences reflected in the conscious world, are generally longer than they were on Insoulence’s album, making room for embellishment, with whispered and melodic vocals frequently complementing the growled and rasped vocals. Nexus Inhabitum seem to be finding their footing, building on their earlier material with Insoulence, while making their black-metal foundations a little more accessible and stretching the songs toward epic length.
By far the closest they arrive at an epic hymn is “Beauty Through the Eyes of Madness,” a twelve-plus minute expedition into through scratchy doom rock, tremolo picking and goth-tinged vocals, offering no atmosphere to soften the ride. This track feels like being dragged over a cavern floor until the tempo surges into blast beats, abrasive black-metal chords and throaty vocals. The song shifts again into death metal, sustaining its assault until an abrupt stop is followed by a return to the doomy opening theme. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Grace Daniel Cornelius Ruiter: Lead vocals, lyrics
Stuart James: Lead and rhythm guitar, drums/percussion, bass guitar, keyboards, acoustic guitars, lyrics, mixing, backing vocals
Simon Brown: Djembe on United we Fall, backing vocals on Ode to Kill
Track list:
1. ...And United We Fall - Final Master
2. Ode To Kill - Final Master
3. Defiance - Final Master
4. Beauty Through the Eyes of Madness - Final Master
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