Review Summary: Music for the soul.
I will have to be blunt in saying that I have no idea what “Impassable Fears” is. Drone, Ambient, Doom metal, Death metal. It doesn’t have any set direction as it aimlessly and catastrophically crumbles upon itself like the eventual downfall of mankind. Perhaps if nuclear fallout were a genre I would categorize this, but that’s about as silly as people calling Ahab “whalecore”. There’s tribal drumming that sounds beaten and downtrodden amidst the thick murky mess of brooding guitar chords and squabbling keyboards (or whatever droning cacophony is in the background), which is paired alongside distorted, tortured spoken word and ugly incomprehensible growls, making it hard to really pinpoint what this record is. However, maybe that’s just it. Maybe it’s its own sound entirely, not defined by our own preconceived notions as to what music is.
It doesn’t really ever feel like you’re listening to music, so there isn’t an easy way to approach this album. It’s a dark, unforgiving journey into the sullied minds of the maniacal. It’s the feeling of reaching a state of ultimate fear, a certain paralyzing fear that drags on with every second that ticks by. With this mind, while trudging through this endless swamp of a record, it’s hard to call it “enjoyable”. It perfects the art of madness, and that is both its tragic flaw and its distinguishing feature. This records creates a soundscape that is both dense and seemingly packed with instrumentation yet extremely minimalist. This could be in part due to the droning, soul-draining keyboards (especially prominent off of “Domino”) that segway into primitive drumming and bestial vocals, however it seems like even in those moments there’s something more. It still feels empty, never ending, and with this it drags out its ugly journey even further.
Gravetemple sure knows how to make 36 minutes last off of “Impassable Fears”. The sound, filthy and rotted and completely unruly, simply doesn’t seem to end. Which has to make someone wonder whether this album is genius or abysmal. Only those who have long lost their sanity could “enjoy” this, yet it is the absolute lack of sanity this album is going for. The only real way to find out is to buckle your seat-belt, and prepare yourself for a plunge into the psychological warfare of “Impassable Fears”.
