Review: Ad Nauseam – Imperative Imperceptible Impulse

Style: technical / dissonant / avant-garde death metal (harsh vocals)
Review by: Dan (Hi! I’m new!)
Country: Italy
Release date: February 12, 2021

Ad Nauseam burst on the scene in 2015 with Nihil quam vacuitas ordinatum est, a churning, seething work of dissonant extremity hailed as a worthy successor to the seminal 1998 album Obscura by Gorguts. It garnered the band well-earned praise and attention, but was followed by years of silence. Fans eagerly awaited the band’s triumphant return, and the band, meanwhile, knew they had a lot to live up to. They’ve taken their sweet time releasing their follow-up album, and I, for one, am awfully glad they did.

I’ve voraciously consumed the most extreme and boundary-pushing metal I could find for at least the last decade (and even contributed some of my own [insert shameless ISA plug here]) and Nihil… has long been one of my favorites. Needless to say, I was stoked when they announced their follow-up, Imperative Imperceptible Impulse.

Ad Nauseam writes dense, angular, dissonant death metal with an exceptionally skillful flair. On its face, their sound is not dramatically different than that of their peers in this increasingly popular death metal sub-genre, with obvious nods to the typical influences of Deathspell Omega, Gorguts, and Ulcerate. Upon further inspection, however, it’s clear that a huge amount of thoughtfulness and tremendous musicianship went into every detail and artistic decision throughout Imperative Imperceptible Impulse, placing this album comfortably near the top of the totem pole of obtuse and inaccessible skronk.

Per the band’s own Bandcamp page, they were “heavily influenced by 20th century classical composers like Stravinsky, Šostakóvič, Xenakis, Scelsi, Penderecki and Ligeti, to name a few” and even developed their own unique tuning to further alienate themselves from well-trodden melodic patterns! This is about as esoteric as extreme music gets, and it pays off in spades.

In the six years since Ad Nauseam’s highly regarded debut, the band has carefully honed their sound, excising practically nonexistent weaknesses with surgical precision. They’ve massaged and perfected every aspect of this record, from the songwriting to the performances to the recording process itself. The result is an impressively mature and refined sophomore record with a ton of replay value that eschews traditional genre norms in favor of a more abstract, avant-garde approach.

The six lengthy compositions hypnotically weave in and out of focus, with perfect balance between instrumental and vocal-laced passages. They pace their riffs well, with excellent mastery of dynamics and album flow. These Italians are not afraid to completely de-structure their technical hellish soundscapes into oppressive freeform ambiance. The transitions are flawless throughout, and many sections are designed to be subtly manipulative – rhythmic hiccups and changeups coming in a beat early – showing some really thoughtful songwriting and attention to detail. Masterful use of a rich variety of tension/release techniques is on full display, though I have to admit I think rising Shepard tones are a bit trite at this point. It’s certainly an effective tool, however, and this particular example actually stops rising at some point, oddly making it even more unsettling.

The sharp-edged guitar tones are well-suited to the wild, skronky, squawky fretwork, and cut through the aggressive yet clear mix in a deliciously filthy way. The bass is simultaneously clangy and rumbly, making good use of upper strings. It’s delightfully present in the mix, frequently poking through the thick guitar barrage, but I wish it was a touch more clear in the denser sections, if I’m being nitpicky. The drumming is impeccably precise without being overly showy. The vocals are pretty dry, and sit a bit further back than one would expect. They’re generally midrange gutturals, with occasional variation into higher or lower registers. There are even a few sections where they get chanty and borderline melodic, which is quite unusual in this style of extreme music.

The mix itself is phenomenal – dynamic, rich, and full of life. The band produced the album themselves, and their painstaking and extreme efforts to differentiate themselves from the flock of overproduced, synthetic sounding modern metal bands by “maniacal assembly and calibration of the audio chain” is well-noted and immediately apparent. Simply put, this album sounds amazing.

The jarring and atonal riffs, however, don’t give the listener much to grab into during the whole wild ride. The album presents a barrage of unconventional aural pyrotechnics that keeps you hostage for its duration, clinging on for dear life to anything you can find, before coming to a memorable and surprisingly gentle conclusion. It really takes a few spins to start to grasp the meandering structures and to enjoy the experience with any kind of familiarity. Make no mistake, this is a challenging and demanding listen, but once you start unlocking its secrets, this masterpiece is tremendously rewarding.

Despite the discordant chaos throughout much of the album’s 57 minute runtime, there are plenty of dynamics, and there are a few notable moments of melodic (or nearly so) respite which, if this band were to stylistically embrace more of, I think would result in a much stronger and more memorable album. These fleeting melodies seem to all be in the back half of the album though, which suggests perhaps an impending new direction for the band? The last two tracks are the absolute standouts, and while I respect and still enjoy the hell out of the first few tracks, I do hope they write more like these final two songs in the future. 

Overall, Imperative Imperceptible Impulse is an outstanding album that doesn’t necessarily break any new ground, but presents a compelling package of superbly written and proficiently performed extreme metal. Quite frankly, disso-death songwriting doesn’t get much better than this.

Recommended tracks: Sub Specie Aeternitatis, Horror Vacui, Human Interface To No God
Recommended for fans of: Ulcerate, Deathspell Omega, Sunless, Gorguts
Final verdict: 8/10

Related links: Bandcamp | YouTube | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Avantgarde Music – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook

Ad Nauseam is:
– Andrea P. (guitar, vocals)
– Matteo G. (guitar, backing vocals)
– Andrea S. (drums)
– Matteo B. (bass)