Album Review: Impenitent – Impenitent (Clan Destine Records)

Glasgow’s Impenitent are a lo-fi technical death metal band due to release their new self titled album on November 20th 2019 via Clan Destine Records.

The raw style of Impenitent’s noise is certainly heightened by the lo-fi style of recording. It’s a rough and challenging listen that really makes them seem like an old-school death metal band playing out of their garage and recording the resulting noise on a tape-deck.

If that’s something that interests you then this self-titled record is well worth taking a look at. 10 tracks of disconnecting, disconcerting and disarray-driven death metal. From the moment Road to Impenitence kicks in, it’s very clear just what kind of band Impenitent are.

An ugly beast that doesn’t just draw from the well of death but from the pit of blackness too. The likes of Never’s vocals howl and screech with evil intentions all while the mesh of the other instruments cause lacerations all over the body. While Pitiless Time sees the guitars giving off a pained level of screeching that is just about discernible.

Fictional Lives, Mental Graves is a surprisingly long at just short of 8 minutes and it’s here that things go off the rails a bit. Simply because, it’s too long and doesn’t have enough freshness in it to be able to sustain its length. Many might find themselves yawning after only a few minutes.

You can’t help but start to notice a pattern too, the riffs often low and chuggy while the rhythm is broken apart by technical squeals and squeaks. It’s what certainly defines this album alongside the horror-fuelled vocals and unease that is felt by the lo-fi style. That does mean Empowered Victim is found to be a bit lacking.

Impenitent begin to pull it back though with a no nonsense smash and grab led by Inner Peace and Ideation. While Finality is a nice break from the heavy with a something of a darkly melodic fuzzy guitar trawl.

Another long one with To Settle the Score, the aforementioned chuggy riffs back with a vengeance. Although the brief bleaker tempo is something a little different. Before Visions of Time to Come and Hope Given Life from Dread end this maddening Lo-fi experience. Both tracks quality in their own right but both suffering from the common problem on this album. They’re both just too long.

Impenitent – Impenitent Full Track Listing:

1. Road to Impenitence
2. Never
3. Pitiless Time
4. Fictional Lives, Mental Graves
5. Empowered Victim
6. Inner Peace and Ideation
7. Finality
8. To Settle the Score
9. Visions of Time to Come
10. Hope Given Life from Dread

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Soundcloud