It was one of those rare moments where I came to ask myself, what the hell did I just listen to? Now, when thinking about it, these events may be entangled with something refreshing that was so powerful that it left me dazed and confused. Yes, it can happen in any given time. Needless to say that after a long time of being a Metal devotee, listening to so many albums, I had the opposite experience of the former. The Australian Death Metal act IMPETUOUS RITUAL recently issued their sophomore album "Blight Upon Martyred Sentience", via Profound Lore Records. With such a sophisticated and interesting title, there was a certain binding to it of how it might sound. Let's just say that I landed in the shores of hell, and right there, the hallowed echoes started to drill into the deep ends of my skull in a manner that I never thought possible.

Drenched in a form of mysticism, remaining under a shell of ambiguity, "Blight Upon Martyred Sentience" serves a bellyful of primitive oriented Death Metal, mixed with elements of both corroded Black and Funeral Doom Metal. In their special way, a wicked type of hazed ambience was unleashed, an engulfing halo that would keep you in check, looking over your shoulder, testing your deepest fears. Metaphorically speaking, it worked its magic no doubt. However, from here on then, while looming over each of the tracks, it ended being the only thing on the band's platter. As it seems, the band's extremity led them into forging an obscure essence made of sludgy noise, a sort that doesn't lead anywhere, just hanging around limbo, being tormented by sharp echoes that will never seemed to end. When listening to the solos for instance, it felt like a rupturing tone piercing your ears, whether on purpose or not, it wasn't pretty. Furthermore, there is so much disorientation within each of the songs. There might be uneven structures to the tracks, but I could hardly refer to those as songs. Even in Extreme Metal it is possible to compose a song, which has a more or less clear division of musical parts. When it comes to what is going within "Blight Upon Martyred Sentience", it is a literal welcome to the torturous jungle.

It is probable that I missed something in the band's inner message drawn from their music, but is that the case, and through the vineyards of turmoil that are integral features within every single track? Referring to the material as abstract might be a good choice of words, it has a sort of tormented spirit that is trying to capture something that is deep rooted, however done without success. I couldn't find any track that I could identify with, or at least commemorate its magnificence.

In general, IMPETUOUS RITUAL has the knowledge to create an atmosphere that will shake down your bases. However, as far as music goes, they need to find an edge, create actual songs other than purely entrust their faith in noise. At times I asked myself while listening if this is how hell sounds like? Maybe it is...