Nihil
Nihil was formed in 1995 by guitarist/bassist, vocalist, programmer, songwriter and producer Greg Broadmore (formerly of Lungfeast) with the addition of session/live-player Kurt Joy (a.k.a. Chaos Engine) on bass. The music featured low tuned guitars, samples and drum-machines, and has been compared to experimental industrial/metal crossover bands such as Godflesh, Scorn and Churn-era Shihad, while experimental forms of electronica such as dub, dark-ambient and downtempo were also prominent features. Moreover, Broadmore's work with Nihil was characterised by a near-obsessive quest for the lowest, grinding-est, heaviest detuned guitar frequencies possible; one specially modified guitar featured a bass-string famed for destroying amplifiers.
Nihil won the 1995 Contact 89FM Battle of the Bands, enabling them to record and release the CD Nil in the same year. While the disc was professionally pressed, the packaging was a distinctive card digipack layout, individually printed with stencils designed by Broadmore. In 1996 the Nihil track Seismic appeared on the compilation BURN; Kurt Joy was by this time no longer involved. There are thought to have been other compilation appearances.
Broadmore was also a founding member of Ghidrah (on bass), and later relocated to Wellington where he has become by far better known as an artist and designer; while Joy in '96 went on to form Usine, and performed as a member of Department of Corrections and began experimenting with a wide range of digital multimedia. He now works for The University of Waikato's Screen & Media Studies department.