The Dirty Nil has always brought a bit of flash and colour to rock ‘n’ roll. Whether it’s the bejewelled stars and lightning bolts emblazoned on frontman Luke Bentham’s stage outfits or the multi-dimensional, psychedelic artwork splashed across album covers, theHamilton, Ontario-based band likes to add a little flair. But on their fifth album,TheLash, the Nil is stripping it all back. No more flash. No more colour. The slate is getting wiped. Back to basics.

It started when Bentham was touring the Vatican and found inspiration in its Italian art.“I was in a very dusty part of the basement, and they had these crazy bronze reliefs that were some of the most brutal things I’ve ever seen,” he recalls. “There was a particular one called ‘The Horrors of War.’ It was two guys fighting over a knife. That image ended up guiding a lot of this record.”

The band enlisted UK designer Jack Sabbat for his acerbic, bootleg punk-flyer style that leans heavily on skeletons and battle axes, assuringThe Lash would look right at home in a beat-up bin of old Crass records or in a Medieval torture dungeon. “We thought,Let’s pull back this insane colour palette that we’ve been using. Let’s try a bit of a palette reset. Just make it harsh and simple and trim the fat. I think we were just tired of colour,” Bentham says. And sure enough, there is not a speck of colour to be found onThe Lash. Just black-and-white whips, spikes, skulls, and knives.

The Nil brought this brutally austere approach toThe Lash’s recording sessions as well.Instead of returning to their longtime friend and go-to producer John Goodmanson, whose studio sheen helped net the band a Juno Award, they brought in some new blood with up-and-coming local engineer Vince Solivari. “He’s my kind of guy,” Bentham says.“Vince plays in a power violence band, KISS is one of his favourite bands, and he’s fluent in Simpsons references. Above all, he’s just competent as hell.” The band didn’t overthink or second-guess much with Solivari, and after only two weeks at BoxcarSound, they’d bashed out a raw and honest version of themselves, one they’d been chasing since their bombastic debut album, 2016’s Higher Power.

Even the themes found throughout The Lash’s ten tracks are a bit bleaker and more cynical than Bentham’s usual happy-go-lucky romanticism. On “Rock N’ Roll Band,” he blows off a little steam, warning anyone with rock and roll dreams about the grim realities of the music industry. “Someone else is getting rich, not you!” he sings in the chorus. It’s not advice he’d typically dole out in polite conversation, but it was a real gripe he needed to get off his chest. “It feels really cathartic to lay something down like that,” he says. “It’s a way of making sense of the frustrating side of being a musician. If I can just get some really negative lyrics down with a bang, and add a melody and a riff or two, then I’ll feel better.” Drummer and co-conspirator Kyle Fisher jokes: “I’ve been telling people that this is Luke’s therapy record.”

The catharsis continues on the score-settling barnburner, “Gallop of the Hounds,” in which Bentham again finds himself venting, this time about the dissolution of a partnership. His blazing shredding and Fisher’s pounding beats soundtrack the emotional oscillation underneath. “The verses are very celebratory, but then the chorus is about that sinking feeling that’s waiting for you,” Bentham explains. 

 
But The Lash is not all doom and gloom. Even as the Nil remains true to their riff-worshipping, rock purist roots, there are a few softer moments woven into the fabric of the album. “Spider Dream” sees the band turning down the distortion and shining alight on their more tender side. “I think that we have some of our more raging tunes on this record, but also some of our more—dare I say—delicate moments that we’ve ever committed to tape on this thing,” Bentham says. “I think it’s without a doubt our most varied record in terms of the dynamics of quiet songs and loud songs. It feels like the truest Nil record.

”Ultimately,The Lash sounds exactly like what the title implies—a cold, hard crack of the whip by the Canadian rock band, one that snaps them with a much needed reset after nearly 20 years of exploring the light. Where they’ll go from here, they’re not sure.Maybe the colour shall soon return. But for now, they’re content to enjoy the darkness.