Exclusive Interview: NUR talk “Negative Transfer”!

Last week saw the release of the sophomore EP “Negative Transfer” from Haifa Israel based Doom laden Sludge Metal quartet Nür, the follow up to their critically acclaimed debut “Light Emerges” so after our ears had stopped ringing, we spoke to guitarist Eran Mazin about their World, influences and of course the EP in the first of two exclusive interviews with them.

How have you found the reaction to the first single and music video from “Negative Transfer” in “The Snake” so far? “We are really happy with the feedback that we are getting on it. We love this song and the music video that was done by our bass player Ben and his wife Daniel. When you get good feedback on all the hard work that you do in the process of making the song then all the hardship on the way just disappears and all that is left is a warm feeling of accomplishment“

Your biography lists you as a trio however the video and the recent promo pictures clearly show a fourth member and second guitarist so can you introduce the Gentleman for us? How did that come about and what was the thought process behind deciding to add a new musician? “Ok I need to check our biography since we have always been a 4 members band from day one of NŪR , We have changed a lot of band members to get to the last assemble that we are now but still always 4. [guitarist Eran Mazin, bassist and vocalist Ben Belial, guitarist Liam Elias and drummer Eyal Lat ~ Ed]“

Your sound has a real Southern states of the US Sludge Metal vibe to it that works really well with the anguished vocals, giving it a real raw power and emotive quality. Who do you consider to be your main influences and why? “It’s funny when you think about it since I guess that the bands that I am influenced by are mostly from the North of America (Boston) and Europe such as Old man gloom, Zozobra, Cave In, Sumac, Converge, Amen-Ra mainly bands from Hydra Head . But I guess that if you go and ask them then they are influenced by bands from the real Southern States of the US such as Crowbar , Down etc… but they have taken that sound and passed it through the approach of Hardcore punk which relates a lot more to us since we grow up in the Hardcore Punk scene“

We have rarely heard from bands from Israel aside from perhaps some in the female fronted Symphonic Melodic Death Metal genre, so what is the scene like in your country, what has it done for you and are there any bands we might not have heard of that you would recommend we check out? “There are two metal scenes in Israel, the one that you have mentioned and the one that we are a part of and other great bands that are more to our liking such as Ostra Torn, Kluvim, KIP, Dukatalon, Ketoret, Mokajin, Bygones that are more Post metal/Post hardcore bands. The metal scene in Israel didn’t really do anything for me. I didn’t really feel a part of it. In the most part it’s fascist and stuck in its ways. I grew up listening to metal and hardcore punk at the same time but I’m happy being a part of the Hardcore Punk scene of Haifa, my home town“

How does it feel to have the better part of 18k of Spotify streams for your debut EP “Light Emerges“? Do you see that as a marker for the band to look to get beyond with “Negative Transfer“? “I think it’s amazing that we can get to people around the world with our music in ways that we couldn’t before and I guess we owe that to Spotify. My real marker at the end of the day is touring to get to new countries that we haven’t played in yet when you take your music, go to other countries, and see the live reaction to your music, talk to ppl and really interact with them. It’s cool to have listeners on Spotify but it feels a bit plastic if you know what i mean“

What is next for Nür? “Like many others Covid 19 has changed our plans. We were supposed to go on tour with a band that we love from Germany “Abest” and have a lot of fun but then Covid came and changed it all up. At that point we decided to make the best out of it and started to write new songs into what is becoming our first LP. We are 2 songs from finishing it and will probably go into the studio to start recording again around Nov/Dec. We are very excited about it“

“Negative Transfer” by Nür is out now via Suicide Records and available over at bandcamp