Imperative Imperceptible Impulse (studio album) by Ad Nauseam

"Imperative Imperceptible Impulse" employs unorthodox song structures in creative ways. The dissonant guitars and drums feel wrong at first, but click as the songs move along. The song are linked together by a calm distortion that eases the listener forward. Unfortunately, after adjusting to the creative structure the later half feels much less entrancing. This paired with the standard edgy lyrics really keep true fulfillment of the concept out of reach.

From Mercury 02/17/2021 17:01

This shit is mind-blowing. Everything about it. I feel like I am being deprogrammed as I listen. My conceptions of harmony and melody are peeled away.

The musicians are not only doing weird stuff, they are doing weird stuff with complete focus and presence, they are just throwing most of the rules out the window but doing it with a clear eye and purpose.

The way the left and right guitars are playing off each other in the dissonant (yet somehow never fully cacophonous) way they do feels like its both ripping my brain in 2 but also expanding it. I can't make sense fully of the effect of the music so I can't describe it well either.

The drummer is a stud, the bassist is doing cool stuff, the guitars and the vocalist are all doing cool stuff. The ambient bits are beautifully realized, and the riffs are stunning. But this album doesn't feel like just a concatenation of dope-as-fuck riffs that are then built upon and around. Instead the songs and the pieces of music all feed off each other and enhance the whole experience. The rhythms and the noisy builds and the breakdowns and the solos don't get short shrift behind the riffage. Its all a fully integrated whole.

I haven't gotten to the stage of listening (on my 3rd listen now) where I fully try to work out what leads to what and where things happen in relation to others or looking at the lyrics or themes etc. I am still in the early phases where I notice each time I listen a 100 little details I missed last time and I am just sitting slack jawed as I hear some mind expanding shit. This may be a masterpiece.

I am no Death/Avant Garde fan, insofar as I heard maybe 5 metal albums from the entirety of last year and 3 this year. BUT as a music listener, I think this album is one of the best examples in awhile of an album that has all the signs of being a masterpiece. Its pretty unique as far as what I have heard (Ulcerate had a similarly mind-expanding album last year, but its not like it was the same as this - just some similar DNA), it features truly incredible musicianship, it flows and sounds great the whole way through, and it just kinda puts me in a waxing poetic headspace that masterpieces do.

Just wanna say 1 small thing that I love, the way the drums toward the end of track 2 "Inexorably Ousted Sente" just make me think the "CD" is skipping (although not a CD so the way it makes me think its glitching hard) and the way this is done so savagely and perfectly in a time signature and way that seems almost impossible is so cool.

Oh and the whole album is brilliant, but the title track may be the song of the year so far. Its unspeakably excellent.

I think I'll end my "review" here and go listen to this a couple more times. Peace!