NILIM
Uncoiling CS
A1. The Relic
A2. Psychic Collapse
A3. The Sky Devouring Itself
A4. Uncoiling
B1. In Futures
B2. Unending Ground
B3. Weighted
Consisting of only guitar, drum machine, and vocals, Nílim is a solo project of John Quill (Third Island, Ordinator, Karpackonaut & more), based in Limerick, IE.
Nílim is intently slow and punishing, designed for a single purpose of weight and repetition. Using a stripped back and simplistic approach, Nílim performs a form of industrial sludge, with doom, post-metal, and shoegaze elements.
Nílim - "I am not", literally - takes a musical approach that leans towards oppressive and bleak by design, but contrasts itself with moments of space and clarity within its own stylistic boundaries. Nílim has a DIY ethos in all elements, from music to art to online presence, aesthetically and creatively.
2025 saw the release of both an eponymous demo and an EP, Uncoiling. Both of these are now combined for a tape release via Tapes of Wrath. Including a b-side "In Futures" as an extra, this tape serves as the definitive physical version of the first year's work on the project.
Click for close-ups of the art:
Released April 3rd, 2026.
Limited to 50 tapes.
Everything - John Quill.
Nílim | Bandcamp | Website
Reviews
Drone/Doom/Post-Metal collective Nilim release their latest bleak offering Uncoiling which follows the same destructive and slowly played sounds heard on their debut record released earlier this year. This time round Nilim has a bleaker and heavier canvas to play with as more distorted and violent soundscapes emerge from the harsh Post-industrial backdrop of Sludge Metal surroundings. The sound is quite abstract with Nilim adapting an early NIN aesthetic with his vocals which seems it will move into a more extreme style at any unpredictable moment.
The actual music is quite fragmented with an ice-cold attitude which allows Nilim to explore other areas of Doom, Sludge and Post-Metal with a slight mechanical sound which you can fully experience within the excellent opening track The Relic. The lingering Drone and Noise effects adds a nightmarish quality to the whole record with a despairing Psychedelic attitude emerging from within which you can see Nilim exploring similar themes from the likes of NEUROSIS, GODFLESH and AUTHOR & PUNISHER. The song is quite subversive with its slow-to-mid paced music luring you into a false sense of security before beating the absolute SHIT out of you with its intense grooves that leaves no stone unturned in providing thrilling riffs from start to finish.
The second track Psychic Collapse continues with the nightmarish energy but with a dominant Industrial energy once again opening up the creative vortex to even more punishing outbursts of aggressive melody and psychedelic textures with an intense Post-Rock/Post-Metal vibe emerging from the darkness. The muscular slab of Sludge/Post-Metal atmospherics is quite grounded with JQ’s vocals holding everything together with a meaty NOISE ROCK and dare I say CAVEMAN DOOM presence. Pay close attention to the lyrics as they seal the deal with this being perhaps the heaviest and most memorable track on the whole EP. With the great use of Ambient and Psychedelic sound effects where NILIM really finds his true creative purpose in providing sounds that will haunt your dreams and nightmares for days.
Third track The Sky Devouring Itself being a pure Ambient/Post-Rock driven track with only minimal outbursts of Industrial and Post-Doom rhythms before returning to his Sludge Metal domain for the final moments with a slightly distorted environment closing the song in great style.
The final track Uncoiling allows Nilim the final choice to unleash another final outburst of nightmarish aggression but perhaps with the most riff-centric track on the whole release. There’s the extra use of Ambient. Post-Rock and Psychedelic textures keep everything within the Post-Metal and Sludge Metal domain but I absolutely adore the “less-is-more” attitude and technical ability that NILIM shows on this track alone. A great way to end this superb EP with.
Uncoiling is quite a dark and brooding experience but one that's not afraid to show moments of uplifting humility that's quite refreshing to hear for a record such as this. Awesome stuff. End Of.
- Outlaws Of The Sun
Forgive me for now shoving you off-balance (again), but I’m about to make a sharp turn away from the hardcore fury of Bind Torture Kill and into a brutish spine-fracturing stompfest of stupefying magnitude, the kind of thing that will make you feel a few inches shorter in stature than you are now.
Seriously, “The Relic” is ugly and squalling in tone, primitive in construction, and traumatic in effect, creating a weapon of rhythmic pulverization accented by drums going off like pistol fire. When the vocals arrive they go sky-high, too splintered and shattered and distraught to qualify as actual singing.
As this black-hearted song evolves (still trying to pound the life out of listeners), the riffing periodically crawls like some great dying beast trailing its agonies like filthy ichor, miserably moaning and wailing but still caked in grit, and shrill, squealing soloing sounds like seizures of pain-induced madness. Through it all, the vocals are never less than bloody raw and spine-tingling.
- No Clean Singing
NÍLIM é um projeto solo de drone-doom industrial de um músico irlandês chamado John Quill. Uncoiling é um EP de cinco faixas que junta riffs lentos, quebrados e ultra-pesados com bateria eletrônica, referenciando desde os clássicos do Godflesh até a brasileira Umbilichaos. Pra ouvir alto.
- Subsensor
Limerick’s Nílim are a solo act featuring a member of Karpackonaut, an improv doom band we featured twice on our podcast in the dark days of Covid. Back now on a different slant with Uncoiling, this is angular and strained music of a clanging industrial distant nightmare, all within a vaguely doom landscape. It reminds me of Doubtsower who we reviewed recently. It churns along on downcast riffs like a barraging machine – slow and blunt, just as they self-describe. The vocals are of the Conan worlds, and the final track is excellent with its atmospheric noise-rock.
- Ninehertz
Nílim, the industrial leaning solo endeavor of noted Limerick musician John Quinn [Third Island, Ordinator] is a name new to me and one that is definitely worthy of your attention, especially if you’re in the market for some Godflesh/Author & Punisher adjacent, fe-fi-fuckin’rocious heft.
The songs are lengthy, weighty, pitchblack and gilded in a layer of deeply pleasing filth that brings to mind the oppressive production work of Gnaw Their Tongues, if not that project's breakneck pace. Throughout the one-two of ‘The Relic’ and ‘Psychic Collapse’, the shadow of Justin K. Broadrick looms large, between the skyscraper toppling riffs and a guttural bark, a slow and patient explosion of an introduction.
The music on offer is industrial at its heart, with an eye towards black metal tonalities and modern sludge stylings, whilst the title track revels in the sort of gargantuan post metal riffs in the style of recently resurrected pioneers of the genre, Neurosis. The fiercely D.I.Y. approach behind the one-man band also echoes that of the Oakland trailblazers, however the conviction with which this material is delivered sets Nílim firmly in the camp of “incredible artists inspired by Neurosis”, rather than “artists who ape Neurosis”.
The wonderful Tapes of Wrath have just put together an absolutely feral new package collecting the self titled demo and ‘Uncoiling’ EP from 2025, and it cannot come highly recommended enough. Beautiful and unrelenting, a stellar exhibition of young master Quinns talents, which I’ll look forward to seeing live, in Anseo, come the end of July.
- The Goo