Nyctalllz – Persian Trip (Album – Zāl Records)
Genre/Influences: Experimental, Industrial.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: Behind Nyctalllz is hiding Iranian artist Morego Dimmer who’s involved with multiple projects, Xerxes The Dark being for sure the most familiar and renowned one. Nyctalllz is a project you might know from compilations or previous works. “Persian Trip” is a new work featuring seven tracks and inspired by fantasy about ‘A guy in modern Persia has been intoxicated by an odd & unknown essence. Soon his mind creates noises and closed-eye visuals. The journey has begun, but the guy has no idea what’s really going on. It seems his empty-industrialized soul can fly through time…’
Content: The content of this work also has something of a fly… an imaginary walk through abstract sonic compositions, which are mixing total Experimentalism and Electro-Industrial passages. It has something of a free-Industrial interpretation, creating a sonic mayhem. But you’ll also notice more inhibited passages with repetitive Electro sequences.
+ + + : Nyctalllz sounds a bit as loose cannon. It’s an unpredictable sonic experience built up with a mishmash of sounds and noises. I like some old-school elements reminding me of the Electro-Industrial work of SPK. I also like rhythmic patterns making the work more accessible.
– – – : The Experimental format of the work makes it not very accessible for a wider audience.
Conclusion: “Persian Trip” sounds like assisting to sonic surgery; decomposing and recomposing sounds and noises!
Best songs: “Maguy”, “To Ke Az”, “Ku Zeh Gar”.
Rate: 7.
Artist: www.facebook.com/Nyctalllz
Label: www.facebook.com/zaalrecords
About Nyctalllz
Nyctalllz is the noise and experimental alias of the Iranian composer Mohammadreza Govahi, who also records as Xerxes The Dark and Morego and is based in Tehran. Discogs dates the project to 2007. Its first releases came out on Amduscias Records: the CDr album “Artificial Hell” (2007), the “Esion” series (2007-2008) and the compilation “In Depth Of Nought” (2009). “Hypnograph” followed in 2016 and “Dūr Untash” on Unexplained Sounds Group in 2017; the project also appeared on that label’s Iran Experimental Underground 016 Survey.
Since 2018 Nyctalllz has released through Zāl Records, the label that also issues the Xerxes The Dark albums Final Crisis (2020), Soundtrack To The Blind Owl (2021) and The Rise Of AI (2022). Govahi spoke about working from Iran in the June 2020 ‘Click Interview’ with Morego.
“Persian Trip” was released on 5 February 2021 as a seven-track download. Govahi recorded, mixed and engineered it at DIM Studio in Tehran in November 2020, playing drum machine, guitars, santur, synths and vocals. The tracks are “Ku Zeh Gar”, “Gof Ta”, “To Ke Az”, “Hichestani”, “Pas”, “Hich” and “Maguy”. Later Nyctalllz titles on Zāl Records include the EP “Syfynetiks” and “Kozmik Noize” (2021), “Purifying Noises For Your Demonic Genomes” and “BJB” (2022) and “RawWwaЯ” (2025).
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