Review Summary: Dark and harrowing in the most beautiful sense.
Australian death and doom metal band Inverloch sparked a bit of a fire back in 2012 with the release of their debut EP
Dusk | Subside. The attention was not unwarranted, seeing as the band features members from the legendary diSEMBOWELMENT whose sole album
Transcendence Into the Peripheral has left listeners craving for more ever since its release back in 1993. Keeping that in mind, Inverloch can more or less be seen as a spiritual successor to diSEMBOWELMENT. They stay true to the sound forged more than twenty years ago while also improving and expanding on the formula, and their new album
Distance | Collapsed further solidifies this by picking up right where they left off with their previous EP.
Musically, Inverloch has not changed much since 2012, which is not a bad thing. Anyone who is familiar with the band will know what to expect: slow, dirge-like doom metal passages take up most of the album, with speedy, grinding death metal segments interspersed throughout. This is evident right from the start, as the album opens up with brief silence before erupting into pure death metal fury (complete with guitar solo), which then makes it's way into the doomy abyss. It’s then not long until it claws its way back up into the storm of dark death metal riffage, laying waste to anything left still standing. It’s dark and harrowing in the most beautiful sense.
The improved production brings out the best in the instrumentals and the vocals. Everything is drenched in reverb, providing a murky, cavernous sound; deep growls echo over slow-burning, crushing riffs that are backed by eerie, clean guitar melodies. Said guitar melodies perfectly complement the lingering doom riffs by providing a sense of beauty that creates a great dichotomy with the more violent passages of the album. The speedier death metal moments are more brief and generally take up small portions of the tracks they are featured in, but this does not lessen their impact in any way and quite possibly makes them more memorable as a result.
The album may feel a bit on the short side (about 40 minutes), but this only encourages repeat listens, as the music contained within that time is nothing short of superb.
Distance | Collapsed is recommended to anyone who is a fan of death metal, doom metal or both.
