I, Voidhanger Records has to have some of the most obscure and unique artists on their roster that is out there in the music business. Barcelona, Spain's INHUMANKIND are Pablo Selnik (flute) and Àlex Reviriego (double bass), two of the most active, original and fearless musicians in the Barcelona scene. After several years working on projects of such diverse styles as Modern Jazz, Metal, Contemporary Composition and Drone, and being key members of the free improvised sessions from the Catalan capital, they join forces in the pursuance of an "impossible" music. Today the band presents their latest album "Self-Extinction," which contains nine tracks.

With the opening flute and bass lines, it's difficult to get a clear sense of what we are listening to here. There are aggressive overtones from the instruments, and the vocal chants give it a ritualistic sound. The brief harsh vocal passage is where it crosses into the overarching realm of Black Metal, perhaps. This sound continues in "Annihilation of all Inferior Thought-Forms." There is dissonance in the flute and bass, almost devoid of all melody at times. The vocals here are purely evil sounding, giving great haste to a force that remains formless in the background.

When we hit the third track, "Against all Odds," the album begins to take a clear shape. Free-flowing passages and oddly connected instruments almost make it sound like a Jazz performance spoiled by darkness. "Citizen Cayen" dials up the malignancy with some truly harrowing vocal chants and commands. I'm not sure whether to fight or flee at this point, but feel caught in a place where there may be no escape. "Land of the Shells" has a veiled attack. The flute and bass hit hard with accents at times, and then breathe more in legato notes. Voices whisper in the background. "Antinomic Self-Cosmogony" is a shorter piece reflective of the amorphous song title. The flute dances lively in mostly minor notes with some discernable patterns. Nearly seguing into "Self-Extinction," the dark voices return in lashes that welt on your skin. "Eternal Sleep" closes the album in a more furious sound, as the instruments come to life with a final push before reaching their resting point.

"Music" is a term that, oddly enough, can prove hard to define, at least with 100% accuracy. The reason for this is that all forms of art really are in the proverbial "eye of the beholder." This album will test both your definition of music, and the veracity of a highly seasoned reviewer with a wide variety of tastes. Though the nature of the album was not pleasing to me personally, there are few albums out there with this kind of uniqueness and creativity. I would caution using the label "Black Metal" to describe it, though there are elements of this umbrella term present.