I'm not trying to sabotage this review by completely diverting the subject, but I fucking hate AI. I had to scrutinize this album cover, painted by @mass_exodus.earth, which sadly looks like a lot of generated slop designed to look like paintings. This isn't hate to this artist; it's praise, and a statement of disdain to generative artificial intelligence. Anyway, Insipidus is a progressive metal band with technical and melodic death metal influences. "Nearest Dusk," released independently, is the Denver-centered band's second full-length LP. It's been in the works since 2023, with two demo tapes consisting of soon-to-be album tracks being released beforehand to build publicity. There's not that much more about this album, so

"A hill of ash" acts as an introduction to the album. Everything screams black metal, from the pitchy, screeched vocals to the power metal-esque drumming and tremolo-picked riffing styles. "Haifa" opens with some of the most devilish belts I've ever heard in my time reviewing metal - seriously, I was really creeped out. The vocals are about the same as the opener, and while I understand that this group is purely in the death metal realm, the singing is still quite kvlty. They could be inspired by the early days of techdeath, as the bands from the 90's had higher register voices. The instrumentation, and this goes for the rest of the LP, is as technical and melodic as promised. This track provides quite an adrenaline boost in the instrumental segments, and they continue in "Suffer," with blast beats and drum fills aplenty.

It isn't an "Impossible Choice" to keep the album going. The track is more melodious, but not in a mundane manner, as the complicated instrumentation is still relevant. Shoutout to Travis Hatley, who's absolutely killing it on the drums on this project. My first taste of the chunky bass was also in this goody bag of a track. "Todesmarsch (Kanada)" feels quite thrashy, especially in the vocal delivery and frantic guitars. The self-titled track is mostly another mid-tempo song, which I can use to take a "break" from Insipidus' insane musical skill. Finally, only twenty-seven minutes later, "Red Sand" ends "Nearest Dusk" in the usual technical fashion.

One thing I'd like to point out about Insipidus' technicality is that it's not distracting, nor overpowering. Every song still has a melody, a vocalist, and some sort of message. A lot of bands in the genre focus on cramming the most notes into a song as possible, without regard for anything else. Insipidus is not one of those bands. Go grab this LP for free on Bandcamp, and you'll surely agree.