måndag 7 Maj 2012, 7:12

You might have to have been living on the north pole of Mars not to have heard that Relapse are putting out the debut EP from antipodean doom/death unit Inverloch, such has been the level of hype and bluster surrounding this release. Inverloch is the brainchild of two guitarists from underground legends Disembowelment, whose Transcendence of the Peripheral is a timeless archetype in doom circles, thus presenting the Australians with hurdle after hurdle to trip, stumble and crash in to on their way to matching that peerless record.

In a somewhat disappointing opening, ‘Within Frozen Beauty’ begins by alternating between fairly standard blastbeat-driven death metal and equally uncontroversial slower riffs that only offer hints of Inverloch’s full potential. In contrast, standout track ‘The Menin Road’ lurches and heaves for six disorientating minutes, engulfing and suffocating listeners as if trapped in an enormous concrete spell. ‘Shadows of the Flame’ closes Dusk/Subside with the promising indication of Inverloch’s likely future output: periods of intense death metal invective that is fused effortlessly with putrid doom passages and a melancholy, if brief, post-metal melody in the vein of Isis.

Inverloch is clearly meant to continue what Disembowelment started, but the duo of Paul Mazziota and Matthew Skarajew have been humble enough to take inspiration from those who carried their flame during the prolonged gap between the two projects. The combination of hype and history is a foreboding one to overcome, and it is difficult to assess Inverloch without any of the obvious preconceptions, but they have managed to write a record that, while undoubtedly drawing from their previous template, stands assertively apart from it.