Umbra Nihil is an obscure metal act from Northern Finland. The birth of the band dates back to the year 2000. A demo containing 5 slow melodic & melancholic doomy tracks with dubious sound was recorded and sent to some chosen labels and magazines in 2002. Later on during the same year the songs were released on a split with Aarni by Firebox. After the release of the split Firebox offered the band a deal, which was accepted. The debut album Gnoia was released in July 2005 on Firedoom.
After the release of Gnoia it was time for the band to get back to the shadows to rethink and redefine the sound. In the process two songs for compilations were recorded and the concept for the next album started to form after additional members, including a new vocalist, strengthened the band's line-up.
The Borderland Rituals, Umbra Nihil’s second full length release, seems like a musical mongrel mostly drawing influences from slow doom flavoured metal, 70's prog rock, Zeuhl, Voïvod and maggot-infested Heavy Metal in general. In order to achieve a suitable claustrophobic sound and eerie, forbidding atmosphere the album has been recorded in an isolated and quarantined abandoned house on the inbred borderland, sullenly crafting the band's sound into a more organic and gelatinous direction, thus leaving behind the somewhat sterile sound of Gnoia. The album will be released in November 2008 by Epidemie records.
