Review Summary: Inexorably Ousted Nut
After 2015’s
Nihil Quam Vacuitas Ordinatim Est, Ad Nauseam made a very strong impression on anyone that was paying attention and was a definite standout for the genre. For those that wrote it off as purely an amalgamation of Gorguts, Deathspell Omega, and Ulcerate, while not wrong, were disillusioned by the fact that they stood out marginally from their peers and their obvious influences. They were head and shoulders above anything else that was coming out at the time and were their own unique force to be reckoned with. The 2015 release was their debut under this name, but they have been functioning as a musical collective for over fifteen years now, and it shows. The instrumental virtuosity displayed was some of the best the genre had to offer, but what was most apparent was their songwriting prowess, and anyone with a decent ear could tell there was something extraordinary going on. After six long years, the band had cultivated an immense amount of hype at the mere prospect of their next album surpassing one of the best albums the genre had seen in the last decade. And fortunately,
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse is everything and more you’d hoped it would be. It’s horrifying and chaotic, whilst being more ambitious and refined than their previous effort to a surprising degree.
Ad Nauseam has embraced the avant-garde elements of their music to a much higher standard this time around and has made an album that is a lot less straightforward than its predecessor. The actual song structures and directions they go are always unforeseen and exciting, even for seasoned listeners of dissonant, left-field death metal like this. And that’s the thing,
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse constantly sounds familiar while simultaneously also feeling alienating, conditioning you to expect the unexpected. Never lulling you into a sense of comfortability, not allowing you to grab onto anything for too long. On first impression most of the ideas on display here will sound like an abstract cacophony of wicked motifs and disharmonious nightmares. But slowly and surely, unconsciously, things that weren’t sticking to you on first listen will begin to nestle into your ears later. You won’t even know why or how these things that you heard initially are now somehow ‘catchy’, nor will you even remember what song it came from, but all that you know now is that you need to go back and discover the origin of these ear-worms that have burrowed deeply in your cranium. The album is multi-layered and will take some time to unpack everything that is at play here. Trying to take it all in on first listen just isn’t possible nor is it recommended, you’d probably just hurt yourself.
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse is nearly an hour long and it’s shortest song is just under nine minutes, so calling it dense is an understatement. While most of the songs are relentless in essence, there are also moments of repose from the void eviscerating tempo, and at times transition into an unusually haunting change of pace. Take the opener, ‘Sub Specie Aeternitatis’ for example; the second half slowly dissembles and morphs into a doom-esque descent into a chasm between life and death that is nothingness, it ends up sounding quite terrifying, both in its scale and nature.
There isn’t much out there quite like
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse, it isn’t often you hear a release that competently traverses so many different types of metal while breaking and bending what we thought tonality and structure were in the genre. Pushing innovation to new heights in ways that aren’t usually reached like this conceptually. For an album this challenging to be implemented this tastefully and to be this rewarding is no small feat, hell, I’d even say it’s quite remarkable. The songwriting presented here is grandiose and multi-faced in intent and execution. Managing to be delightfully deranged and pushing complexity to its limits; while having the audacity to do it all with some of the best sound design and production I’ve heard in years, almost making it feel like it’s too good to be true. The guitar tones are exquisite and the drums sound dynamic and raw, while the bass is delectably present in the mix. I know this isn’t the case whatsoever, but they almost make it seem effortless with how the songs are structured to create an oppressive labyrinth that circles back to a recurring idea or motif. Instead of traditional structuring, the songs are written like they flow in musical movements, a la classical music. The title track is such a fine embodiment of everything this band excels at, and even the most jaded metalheads wouldn’t help but blush at the first minute and a half or so of ‘Horror Vacui’.
With a release this dense and ambitious I could go on and on about every reason and aspect of what makes
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse nothing short of iconic, but my words could never do this justice and I’m probably not equipped to do so even if I wanted to. This isn't the fastest nor is it the heaviest thing in recent memory, but it just may be the most accomplished. We are being desensitized and spoiled for all others that will follow. This is sheer maniacal disarray that’s never sounded this ripe and calculated. Ad Nauseam has solidified themselves amongst the heaviest hitters in the genre and the ripple effects of
Imperative Imperceptible Impulse will be felt for many years to come.
