Review: Im Nebel – Hypocrisis

Style: progressive black metal, symphonic black metal (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Recommended for fans of: Ihsahn, Arcturus, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Dimmu Borgir, Septicflesh
Country: Georgia
Release date: 16 May 2025

The Progressive Subway isn’t just for local transit; our tracks are laid across the globe. You can hop aboard and ride to lands of Brazilian atmoblack, Norwegian prog rock, Canadian post-metal, Romanian blackgaze, Mexican tech death, or Greek gothic/industrial—and that’s just picking some reviews randomly from our site’s front page while I write this. In fact, as I look now, our ten most recent reviews cover bands from ten different countries. Progressive music is wonderfully global, and we’ve happily traveled to most corners of the world to cover it. 

But there’s still fresh ground to chart, and today the Subway has stopped somewhere new: Georgia. Not the U.S. state—we found ourselves there earlier this year, covering Tómarúm’s extraordinary release. Rather, we’re straddling Eastern Europe and West Asia in the country of Georgia, here to check out progressive black metal act Im Nebel. In their latest album, Hypocrisis, the band liberally blend symphonic elements into ten short, blackened tracks with plenty of progressive flair. It’s just the sort of thing the Subway was built to seek out. Let’s see whether the trip out east was worth the trek.

Despite its cold, dystopian cover art, Hypocrisis immediately strikes as theatrical. Its symphonic embellishments and dramatic clean vocals reflect a Baroque influence that brings a king’s halls to my mind, and across the album there’s a dark but quirky atmosphere—think Arcturus’s La Masquerade Infernale. Plainly put, the music is fun. This probably isn’t what Im Nebel were going for, seeing as the band describe Hypocrisis as “a bleak yet thought-provoking journey through the contradictions of modern existence … [that] explores the duality of human nature, inner darkness, deceptive truths, and the fragile boundary between the spiritual and the physical.” Somber stuff. Nevertheless, the twisted piano and staccato orchestral touches opening the album in “Prolog” set a stage that promises to be more playful than dire, and the rest of the album plays along. 

Standout track “Life” best shows off Im Nebel’s strengths: relatively straightforward but catchy riffs that leave plenty of room for symphonic elements to shine, a well-balanced use of harsh vocals and theatrical singing, and a compositional structure that’s not complicated but holds enough room for variety and surprises to keep things interesting. The track’s singable chorus is particularly infectious, with emphatic piano complemented by choppy guitar. In a similar vein, “Inside Out” also features simple but memorable interplay between the piano and guitars, as well as a melodic guitar solo that leads into a heavy outro with a mix of orchestral accents. Despite being the album’s longest cut, “Inside Out” falls just short of the five-minute mark. As with most of the tracks, it’s packed to the brim with ideas and would benefit from a slightly longer composition, giving the ideas space to repeat and evolve. But the short runtimes undeniably make the songs more accessible. And whether it’s the dark, music-box-like intro of “Corridors of Insanity,” the lovely acoustic guitars that fill “When Day Comes After Night,” or the riff salad that forms the center of “Smiling Faces,” Im Nebel keep Hypocrisis varied and entertaining. 

As enjoyable as the album is, however, its production isn’t convincing. The symphonic elements sound far from authentic or robust, and the core instruments all lack just a bit of punch. Unfortunately, this gives Hypocrisis an amateurish feel that undermines some truly interesting musical ideas. The band also seem to struggle with transitions. The introductory “Prolog” moves abruptly into “Where Horizon Starts” without any semblance of connection between the tracks. Similarly, “When Day Comes After Night” has an acoustic outro that clearly sets up the next song, but alas, the following track begins with a completely new idea, jolting the listener. Hypocrisis’s fumbled transitions aren’t just between songs, but also within them—”Corridors of Insanity,” as one example, builds enticingly through a prolonged intro, then right when it’s about to open up, a jarringly unfitting riff kills the momentum. All in all, Hypocrisis sounds more like a collection of ideas than a cohesive album. 

Yet, even with its flaws, Hypocrisis remains an engaging listen. Its quirky atmosphere, compositional diversity, and catchy, standout moments make it feel refreshingly distinct among progressive black metal releases—and on balance, these positives outweigh the album’s shortcomings in production and cohesion. Although Hypocrisis won’t have us staying in Georgia for too long, it was enough to make the Subway’s first trip out here worthwhile.

Recommended tracks: Life, Smiling Faces, Inside Out
You may also like: Lamentari, Belnejoum, Shade Empire
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Metal-Archives

Label: Octopus Rising (an Argonauta Records trademark) – Bandcamp | Facebook | Official Website

Im Nebel is:
– Grigol Lobjanidze (guitars)
– Nick Rukhadze (drums)
– Alexandre Gurchumelia (bass, vocals)
– Michael Lenz (guitars, vocals)