Review: Inexorable “Imperious” [Sliptrick Records]

Album reviews can so easily be peppered with over-described analogies and over-complicated descriptions, so this reviewer will be breaking this album down into two basic overviews: likes and dislikes. It will be short & sweet and in point form, but for good reason… because I would like you to listen to the album for yourself even if one of the tiniest parts of my assessment resonates with you. Because behind every album reviewed is a band that has put in the effort to make that recording of music that we love, and in true metal spirit they should be given a fair go. And, I would also like you to finish reading my review without getting bored of course 😉

So, on that note, let’s get to it…

Imperious by US death-metallers Inexorable, broken down into two basic overviews.

Likes:

• Let’s start with the album artwork… it’s just beautiful and I would love to have this hanging on my wall or even in my collection. Love the artwork.
• Then the recording itself, is a slice of solidly produced heaviness with great sounding drums.
• There are a few moments of interesting and subtle symphonics and samples, with emphasis on the subtle, because too much can be too bad.
• The album also contains some interesting and twisted leads that feel somewhat disjointed yet work quite well. It is refreshing, and welcomed, on this album especially.

Now the dislikes:

• It’s well-executed but nothing new, although it sounds like a bit of a death metal/deathcore/tech death hybrid, yet I am going to stick with referring to it as death metal. The guitar tone, breakdowns and some tech death style leads are the reason for the hybrid comparison, and in my opinion the breakdowns sometimes seemed misplaced. What I did find interesting though, was the first few seconds of the album would have you thinking this band hails from Poland. It doesn’t last though, as the album soon takes on its own identity.
• There is a fair amount of mid-paced repetition, especially in the first few songs. Now I don’t think repetition is always a bad thing, unless however what is being repeated isn’t catchy in the first place.
• Although the growl vocals work better than the shout vocals, I think all the vocals are overdone. The album is almost saturated with lengthy extended notes, which lends itself to them becoming quite tiresome. There needs to be more variety in the length of the notes or rather length of the growls and shouts as I believe the album seems to be lacking those short, sharp notes that add the aggression to death metal. It’s almost as though they are a little light on the amount of lyrics so they are trying to bulk up on what they do have to work with. In my honest opinion, this is the part of the album that needs the most work.
• The song “Cultist Deity” has a fade-out ending, which, although super critical of me, really does seem oddly out of place, and even though it was only on that one song, it appears as though the band had perhaps run out of ideas. Which would then bring me back to my point of the repetition in the first few songs as well as the extended vocal notes.

Overall though it’s a decent effort but there is room for improvement, especially in the vocal and song structure departments. And remember, if any of the above resonates with you then be sure to check this album out because my opinion is subjective and I may be the world’s most disagreeable person. 😁