Nuvolascura Share Captivating, Intense Screamo On Powerfully Immersive New Album

The latest album from the L.A,-area screamo group Nuvolascura sounds absolutely ferocious. The record, called As We Suffer From Memory and Imagination, packs frantic bursts of energy that sound like a musical portrait of a personal perspective of a world in disarray. The personal perspective part of that equation is important — the group doesn’t just sound like they’re presenting chaos that can be held at arm’s length, in a sense, and observed from a distance. Rather, with the off-kilter, physically ferocious rhythms that pulsate throughout this record, Nuvolascura have delivered an inescapably personal viewpoint of the foreboding hurricane of chaos that hangs like a shadow over the album.

There’s a lot to the rich musical tapestry that provides the experience of As We Suffer From Memory and Imagination. On “Disguised in Scintillations,” for instance, which is the second track of the album, Nuvolascura deliver some intense yet contemplative math rock-esque drumming in the opening segments of the track before leaping off into significantly more abrasive, intricately pummeling chaos as the song proceeds. During the closing crescendo, some of that more contemplative spirit returns; this time, it’s buoyed by a captivatingly heavy bass line.

The guitar riffing on this album sits on the same level of stunning intricacy as the drum rhythms, and the powerful intricacy of the riffing comes into particular focus on the track “Victory Rhythm,” among other points on the album.

All of the elements of this latest record from Nuvolascura feel perfectly united to deliver the band’s captivatingly intense, musically intricate foray into laceratingly intense chaos. The closing segment of “For Their Own Diversions” is particularly pummeling — it’s perhaps one of the most physically intense portions on the record. When the band’s more extended, melody-driven songwriting comes into focus, like on the comparatively longer track “Pixel Vision Anxiety” and on “Essentially a Vivisection,” the effect feels deeply emotionally unsettling. The band’s melodies carry the same kind of emotional effect as the more raw chaos. The power behind the band’s melodies comes into particular focus on the album’s closing track, which is a wordless two-minute segment of somber, guitar-driven melody.

As a whole, As We Suffer From Memory and Imagination by Nuvolascura packs a powerful mixture of chaotic intensity and propulsive energy, and the emotional connection provided by the raw melodies coursing through the mix makes the album hit even harder.

5/5 Stars

Check out the music below! The album was released on physical formats via Zegema Beach Records and Dog Knights Productions.

Scroll down for an important statement from the band about their perspective on the current social situation in which their new album has emerged. The album was released on June 19th, which is an annual celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. and, this year, followed a surge of nationwide protests against police brutality and other elements of societally-embedded racism.

Nuvolascura shared the following statement:

“We’re very excited to finally share our 2nd LP, ‘As We Suffer From Memory & Imagination’ in its entirety, with help from our great friends at Zegema Beach Records and Dog Knights Productions. Given the context of today’s date, as well as the events over the past few weeks, we’d like to take this opportunity to echo the many voices decrying the prolonged history of discrimination and violence towards Black people, as well as calling for the abolition of police all across the world. We’d like to express our solidarity with all victims of racialized violence throughout history at the hands of the police, state, and white supremacy, as well as with those out in the streets demonstrating in pursuit of a world that is anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and without police.

We feel that it is the duty of all artists, especially within our community of DIY musicians, social centers, and venues to utilize their platform, big or small, to bring awareness and accumulate resources towards this fight to the best of their ability. Therefore, we will be gathering all proceeds made from our portion of this pressing’s physical sales, all digital sales and royalties, and any sales of shirts to be donated to TBD fund(s) assisting demonstrators with legal fees / supplies, as well as to organizations rendering mutual aid and community outreach. We plan on gathering donations on a weekly basis and then assessing the situation before doing our best to determine where the funds are needed the most. To further incentivize donations, we are selling a special edition of the vinyl release which will include a poster of the names of Black victims of police violence, designed and screen printed by us. This edition will be limited to 50, offered at $25 (with the option to pay more if possible), and will be personalized to discourage resale. 

We’d like to thank Zegema Beach Records and Dog Knights Productions for pressing this record for us and all the help they’ve provided, Sean Leary for the art and design work, Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden for recording, mixing, and mastering, Joe Schmidt for booking our doomed Europe tour, everyone who purchased any of the benefit shirts / purchased the singles (we were able to donate over $1k to various bail funds/orgs!), and anyone else who has supported us.”