3 out of 5

Label: Skin Graft Records, Nux Organization

Produced by: Steve Albini

The Japanese noise rock circuit – Boredoms, Merzbow, and yes, Zeni Geva – is a bit of a morass of cyclical influences to pinpoint: who came first? American and UK experimental / underground metal and rock was feeding into it as much as potentially feeding it, and if you were in tune to the scene in the early 80s (I was not, having recently been born at the time), I imagine the sense of discovery, and “what could they do next?” following people like Steve Albini and KK Null around to various projects was never ending.

But the scene evolves, of course, and gets its bearings and tenets, and while Null and Zeni Geva were tweaking their sound, by the time of Nai-Ha – a ’93 outing recorded by Albini, with Steve jumping on guitar for a track – we also had Big Black, and Dazzling Killmen, and a ton of others on labels ZG favored (Alternative Tentacles, Skin Graft) who were feeding into the aforementioned cycle of influence. And so Nai-Ha falls into that same system. I don’t have the “I was just born” excuse for ’93, but admittedly I still wasn’t down with this type of music then – I can’t flash back to explain what this would have been like to hear in that context. However, I have since discovered a lot of tunes and bands from that same era, and Nai-Ha strikes me as a kind of middleground of what was going on: KK Null’s / ZG’s bid at a “normal” hardcore album.

Steve’s recording style is okay for this kind of stuff, but it’s almost too organic to make broader tracks like opener Autobody and Shirushi hit with full power; something more precise could’ve brought out and highlighted the metal. Meanwhile, it works gangbusters for noiserock thrash like Intercourse, or the slowed down, drone-like barrage of the title track.

Null’s vocals – Intercourse aside – also are affected by this middleground; he’s just kind of growly guy here. Now, given the visceral, bleak black metal style lyrics, perhaps this is a very purposeful affect, and I can’t claim to have listened to the entirety of ZG’s discography to know how in line with the band’s general style this stuff is. But I have heard selections from varying points, and I was honestly taken aback by how relatively straightforward Nai-Ha comes across (in terms of pace and energy) in comparison.

A ’96 rerelease on Skin Graft tacks on two tracks attributed to ‘Superunit’ (though varyingly attributed to Zeni Geva as well, depending on your source), which included Steve as part of the band roster on guitar and vocals and not just a guest. Perhaps unsurprisingly: these sound somewhat like Shellac songs, the band having started up between Nai-Ha and the rerelease. Kettle Lake could be an Action Park-era Shellac track, with no offense to ZG as a backing band; Painwise fares better as a unique collab, adding looser psych / noiserock elements and having Null underline Steve’s nasally singing with his growl – it is worth grabbing the version with these tracks on here if only for Painwise, but Kettle Lake would be a great Shellac B-side as well.