Review Summary: Suffering....the eternal gift.
There are always certain bands, regardless of genre, that never seem to get the attention that they deserve. Whether it be lack of exposure or whatever, it just seems unfair. Convulsing is a (one man) technical death metal band that falls into that category. But make no mistake, Brendan Sloan (the twisted creator of Convulsing) is kicking the ***ing door down with
Perdurance.
This album is everything that is amazing about death metal in 2024. It's dense as ***, its dissonant as all hell and it is an absolute clinic on how technical death metal should be made. Each and every song here (specifically the two headed monster that is Inner Oceans and the title track) has a triumphant quality about it. What I mean is that there are points during each track where the riffs are literally falling like an avalanche, and just when you think your brain is going to malfunction, you're swept away into an abyss of slower and deliberate ambient atmospherics. And right when you catch your god forsaken breath, more devilish riffs, blazing blast beats and technically sound fills and some of the most maniacally gorgeous demon growls and ghastly shrieks hit you square in the jaw like Muhammad Ali when he fought Joe Frazier. The extremely dense (and I mean DENSE) atmosphere mixed with the flurry of different riffage makes for a very "end of the world" vibe. Its as if Convulsing knocks you down, picks you up and dusts you off and then knocks your ass right back down.
Perdurance's best quality is the way it manages to be insanely technical all the while maintaining the apocalyptic atmosphere all the way through. It's almost post rock esque in the way that the riffs just keep building and building and the dissonance sweeps you away until suddenly......you're dropped on to your dome from 20,000 feet in the air. And by that I mean you're absolutely pummelled by riff after riff and some of the most intense and schizophrenic drumming you'll hear on a death metal album.
It is actually insane that one man wrote and recorded this album. It is so masterfully performed and there's so much going on you'd think 50 musicians were apart of the process. Epic classics such as Ulcerate's
Everything is Fire, Cryptopsy's
None So Vile, Flourishing's
The Sum of All Fossils and Artificial Brain's self-titled all come to mind when listening to
Perdurance. This album shares all the magical qualities that make those bands and albums so great. Convulsing is coming for the throne gentleman and
Perdurance will be the album that made all you sick and twisted peasants bow to the new best thing in technical, dissonant and atmospheric death metal.
