The ninth full-length effort from the
Loeffler brothers,
Niratias (an acronym for "Nothing Is Real and This Is a Simulation") is a visceral sci-fi fever dream that pairs tight, caustic riffage with billowing melodic contrails. Surprising? Not at all, as
Chevelle has been honing that esthetic for over two decades, but in the realm of heavy metal and its myriad subgenres, stylistic reliability can sometimes be incongruent with quality. That's not the case here, as
Niratias continues in the vein of 2016's dynamic and authoritative
North Corridor, albeit without bassist and backing vocalist
Dean Bernardini, who left the fold in 2019. Commencing with the jammy, space rock-tinged instrumental "Verruckt,"
Niratias quickly finds its true north on the propulsive "So Long, Mother Earth," a moody, yet blazing space exploration anthem that couples
Tool's dystopian art-metal with the rock & roll pageantry of
Muse. The sinewy "Self-Destructor" and "Remember When" follow suit, but it's in these beefier numbers that the absence of
Bernardini is felt -- in addition to handling vocals, guitar, and piano,
Pete Loeffler was tasked with filling in on bass as well, and while his parts are more than adequate, the paucity of low-end throughout
Niratias is hard to ignore. Peppered with interstitial pieces like the
Danny Elfman-esque "Sleep the Deep" and the icy, ambient closer "Lost in the Digital Woods," the 13-track set bears the architectural hallmarks of a concept album, but its narrative is opaque at best --
Pete cites the work of Carl Sagan, Elon Musk, and
Neil deGrasse Tyson as inspirations. Still, Sagan describes the cosmos as "beyond ordinary human understanding," and with
Niratias,
Chevelle has effectively -- and reliably -- distilled that ambiguity into sound. ~ James Christopher Monger