IMPAVIDA, hailing from the land of Germany, return with their second full-length album "Antipode". "Antipode" is a journey of completely dark and atmospheric black metal. Though the album only sits at four tracks, there is a lot of depth of feel to the album. The opening track "Demon's Eerie Flutes Accompany The Decay Of Corpses Defiled" brings a lot of tempo changes coupled with some brutal blast beats and guitar riffing. There is a sense of doom and dread that follows the entire track. From the harrowing screams, to the brutality, I felt my skin crawling while listening to this track. There is some beauty that exists in the track as well, that comes with some instrumentation breaks. It offers a more elevated sound with crystalline guitars heard.

I truly prefer the more atmospheric sound that IMPAVIDA provides in this regard. The second track, "Corpse Devourer", kicks in with offering a much different sound. There is some eerie almost 70s style horror movie sound that couples with a lesser sped up drumming style. The harrowing vocals are still prevalent in the track, but the overall melody of the track seems more rock and roll to me. The third track, "The First Flame Initiates the Cleansing of Putrid Terrestrial Spirits", offers a much better sounding instrumentation in the album. The musicianship in this track is impressive. From twangy sounding guitar work to a slower tempo of the drums, it is hypnotically beautiful. The brutality of IMPAVIDA's music makes a return a few minutes into the track, but everything sounds so much cleaner. Kind of strange that the clarity of the music jumped so much in this track. I am not sure if that was intentional or not, but it works for me.

 I think what interests me so much about this album, is its ability to conjure up the most brutal and evil black metal sound, but also make me take a second to absorb all the beautiful atmospheric sounds. IMPAVIDA bring this incredible juxtaposition of dread and pure beauty. The final track, "Towards The Pyre", leans more heavily on the instrumental side of things. The track showcases some clean eerie vocals. I must be honest that once I got to the end of "Antipode", I became a fan. It is normally not the type of black metal I am a huge fan of, but it grows on you by the end of the album. Give this one a listen.