REVIEW: Liebe by Nasty

When it comes to beatdown, Nasty are one of the biggest European bands in the genre right now. Hailing from Belgium, Nasty describe themselves as "four dudes doing fucked up music for a fucked up world" and that couldn't be a more perfect description of their music. On 9th September, the band released a brand new single and accompanying video for their song 'Liebe'. The video is a collection of live footage from the bands' past gigs and captures the sheer amount of violence that their sets entail.

As a whole, the song is full of fat riffs and ferocious fury. Just what we would expect from Nasty! In addition, there are (of course) plenty of beatdowns to go round which are all fuelled with plenty of hammering double bass pedals along with chugging guitars with their ever-present crunching sound. In between the chugging are some simplistic riffs that are exercised well to suit their vehement sound; it's these riffs which almost branch away from the beatdown genre to a slightly more metal sound which is intriguing to hear. But, although there are signs of more metal elements being injected into their sound, the slight pauses before each beatdown famously build anticipation for the carnage which is around the corner waiting to punch us in the face- this is the kind of Nasty which we are all used to hearing.

Like mentioned, there are glimpses of more melodic riffs and moments throughout the song and it's these moments which are followed by the same beatdown and then followed by the same melodic part... This happens a few times over and I was left wondering whether they were going to develop the idea further- they never did. I found the track to be an interesting and an easy listen but it never really developed on any of its ideas; it was all very brief which made me feel as though the band had one solid idea for a song and just repeated it over and over purely to fill the time. It was all too repetitive for me.

Overall, 'Liebe' is a good song and there is no doubt about that. It's taking a step away from what we have heard from them before and is showing signs of different sounds to come... not necessarily taking steps up though.

By Amy Demidow