Oxbow and Nihill Release and Stream New Albums Out This Week on Hydra Head!

There's a curious romance at the heart of Oxbow. Curious, because you might not initially equate such a notion with a band who first introduced themselves to the world via an album entitled Fuckfest. - Decibel

The Oxbow discography - six albums, starting with 1989's Fuckfest and building to 2007's The Narcotic Story - is a compelling and powerful journey through one man's obsessions with sex and violence, told through throbbing, occasionally quite noisy post-blues art-rock. - The Wire

Can you believe OX BOW has been a band for 20 fucking years? Neither can we - mostly because they appear to be so young and good-looking (and because at least one of them will beat us up if we don't say that). And yet our reissue of the band's 1990 debut proves that they were once much younger and even better-looking. Originally released on CFY/Pathological, the aptly titled Fuckfest is a pornographic snapshot of a burgeoning musical force in its formative years; a raw, naked display of desperate humanity and abject terror; a decisive collision of Midwest noise, and all-American trepidation.

This is the only Nihill release that we've heard, but safe to say that this is some seriously blackened music, with plenty of weird atmospherics and drone thrown in there. It also warrants some Leviathan and Deathspell Omega comparisons, and given the success of those projects that may be exactly why the almighty Hydra Head chose to try and help give this more Stateside attention. - Chronic Youth

Krach is the first part of a trilogy from a band that may be unknown to many but have been preparing themselves for a long time before they finalized their dark arts and have it exposed to the world. Nihill, inspired by medievall alchemistry and the darkest depths of the human soul. Almost impossible for any comparisons, Nihill could however be descibed as a grimm mixture of Sunn O))) and Deathspell Omega. Krach is an album that needs to be experienced to have it reach its full potential. If that potential ultimately will be that in emotions of happiness is not exactly guaranteed...

www.theoxbow.com
www.myspace.com/nihillkrach