AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ENNUI — “ANTINATALISM”

Jan 082026

(written by Islander)

The world will end. All life will end. Each life will end, tomorrow, or the next day, or millions of years from now. What comes next? That question has occupied human thought almost more than any others — right after thoughts about what we must do to keep ourselves alive for one more day. What comes next?

The question remains the same, and it still evokes the same answers — either some vision of life everlasting or the acceptance of oblivion, with the fear of the latter seeding the growth of the former. But given how much suffering human lives must endure, one might wonder whether bringing new life into existence is a worthy act, regardless of what comes after its end.

That question lies at the heart of the new song by Ennui (from Tbilisi, Georgia) that we’re premiering today along with a captivating lyric video in conjunction with the announcement of the band’s new album Qroba, their first full-length in more than seven years. It will be released by Meuse Music on February 27th. The name of the song we’re presenting today is “Antinatalism“.

We’ll begin by sharing this statement about the album from the label and the band:

Qroba means “Vanishment”. It is a story of coming to terms with the inevitable, told through melancholy and contemplation.

The fifth full-length album by Ennui blends atmospheric funeral doom and death metal with Georgian poetry and the spirit of the land it was born from.

Slow, heavy rhythms, cold harmonies, and haunting melodies evoke a descent into stillness, where pain and peace become one.

This is music about the beauty of disappearance, majestic, inevitable and timeless.

In that statement you see a sentiment that unfolds in the lyrical poetry of “Antinatalism“, the idea that non-existence isn’t to be feared but should instead be welcomed as an alternative to all of life’s ills. Indeed, the song’s title itself rejects the policy of “Natalism” that promotes the reproduction of human life. Here is the song’s closing stanza:

No fires of war, no bloodscape terrains,
No echoing cries, no shackled chains.
No life, no death, no whisper, no scream,
No fleeting moment, Just the eternal non-being.

The song itself is beautiful and entrancing, but it’s also very dark and daunting, both diaphanous and earth-shaking in its heaviness.

The opening notes slowly ring and reverberate, piercing in tone and mysterious in mood. In great contrast, Ennui intersect that ethereal and beckoning melody with enormous sonic detonations and immense groaning undercurrents. They then bring those contrasting decibels together to carry the song forward in a slowly heaving march that shakes the earth below and but also sparkles above, peppered by drums that go off like gunshots.

Ennui’s founder David Unsaved voices the lyrical poetry as he has done for many years, in an astonishingly abyssal growl, deeper than ocean trenches. As he does so, the music flows like immense tides of suffering, wailing and moaning, and it also pounds like the mountain-crushing footfalls of a titan.

The music begins to shiver and shimmer, creating a harmony of tension and terror that surrounds the song’s gargantuan blows. The instruments squeal, groan, and squirm, but also inflict bouts of jolting sonic pugilism before resuming the song’s haunting and harrowing march toward the end.

We’ve been writing about the music of Ennui for more than a dozen years, because it has been persistently powerful, and we’re very happy that after a long hiatus they are back, bringing us cause to write of them again.

ENNUI:
David Unsaved – vocals, guitars, bass, panduri
Sergi Shengelia – guitars
Andrey Azatyan – guitars
Kakhi Kiknadze – guitars
Alexander Gongliashvili – drums

FURTHER CREDITS: Re-amping, mixing and mastering by Greg Chandler at Priory Recording Studios, UK. Drums, vocals, acoustic guitars, and panduri – recorded at Garden Sound Studio. Engineered by Michael Lenz. Recording operated by Igor Gerashchenko. Cover artwork by BenJ Winterkeep. Design and additional artwork by Vladimir Chebakov.

Qroba should be available for pre-order today — see the links below.