Convulsing – Perdurance [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]

By Dear Hollow

If you’re not familiar with Australia’s Convulsing, you’ve likely been exposed to mastermind Brendan Sloan’s impact on underground extreme metal. Alongside serving as bassist/vocalist of Altars (beginning with 2022’s Ascetic Reflection), guitarist of cinematic post-rock act Dumbsaint, and one-man show behind dissonant death/black distortionist Convulsing, he has contributed in some way or another to acts like Greytomb, Cosmic Putrefaction, Defacement, Gonemage, and Nightmarer. Convulsing remains his flagship project, and after two excellent LP’s Errata (2016) and Grievous (2018) of consecutively higher praise and a fantastic split with Siberian Hell Sounds, we are finally met with a gem of dissonant death metal after a six-year absence, an iconic record and monolithic sound steeped in nuance and imbued with dynamics, contrast, and texture: Perdurance.

What makes Perdurance such a resounding and enduring success is its ability to attack with intensity and dissonance that outdoes the best of its genre-mates. Warped rhythms are graced with staggered riffs and blazing percussion, as Convulsing explores every nook and twist of a rhythm and melody until its inevitable conclusion is happened upon in tragic and fatal fashion. Dissonant leads are the guide of Perdurance, providing scenic vistas to punishingly heavy riffs while reminding listeners of the inevitable doom that awaits. Like this year’s Ulcerate, the devastation is beautifully nuanced and dynamics are secured, giving a sense of freedom, sentience, and lushness amid the relentless darkness and discordance. Tempo-abusing, blastbeat-wielding, and heavy as mountains, the more immediate offerings (“Pentarch,” “Flayed,” “Shattered Temples”) offer this weight in pulverizing chuggy progressions, with a lurking monstrosity and humanity beneath its processions somehow more mammoth than its ten-ton riffs.

Beginning with “Inner Oceans,” we are graced with Convulsing’s massive sense of crescendos and atmospherics. A slow burn guided by the leads, the riffs are explored more subtly and incrementally – leading to a sense of immense claustrophobia and suffocation. Beginning delicately and organically, the tracks warp and shift while constantly growing in size and intensity, leading to what feels like cave walls closing in. The organicity suggests a warmth unexpected in this breed of death metal, as lush progressions morph to menacing tones seamlessly (“Endurance”), while devastation and grandiosity are the killing blow for natural growths and crescendos (“Inner Oceans”). The episodic nature of closer “Endurance” is aptly climactic and cinematic, its different three-minute portions threaded together with lush and yearning progressions slightly twisted to uncanny valley’s version of the heartfelt, amplified by brief passages of clean vocals and punkish beats.

Perdurance shows that Sloan remains at the top of his game – Convulsing cements itself as one of the best offerings of underground extreme metal and death metal in general. The second you think you’ve heard a progression or passage before, Sloan distorts it with the precision of a mathematician and the ambition of a madman. It never neglects punishment or overstays its welcome, and every twist and turn feels beautifully executed and stunningly methodical. Even the cleanly sung bonus track Porcupine Tree cover “A Smart Kid” feels at home following “Endurance.” Reflected in its evergreen title, Perdurance represents an immortal statement in dissonant death metal and extreme metal in general: ceaselessly brutal, meticulously crafted, and indubitably iconic.

Tracks to Check Out:1 “Flayed,” “Inner Oceans,” “Endurance”

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Apes – Penitence Review

By Dear Hollow

In the preface of Herman Hesse’s Faust-inspired novel Steppenwolf, an unnamed narrator (simply called the Nephew) details a series of encounters with main character Harry Haller. Haller is described as extremely intellectual and arrogant, but ultimately alienated by and disillusioned with the bourgeois-dominated society of twentieth-century Germany. Hesse’s narrative culminates in a scene in which the narrator and Haller, now friends, attend a lecture from a philosopher, one of Europe’s brightest minds. Haller gives a fleeting glance at the narrator: his expression is described as cutting through the pomp and pretense of human society, a look that is described as melancholic, dismissing the words and their speaker. “It said: ‘See what monkeys we are! Look, such is man!’ and at once all renown, all intelligence, all the attainments of the spirit, all progress towards the sublime, the great and the enduring in man fell away and became a monkey’s trick!”

Apes is a six-piece from Montreal, having released one LP and a series of demos and EPs since its inception in 2012. 2017 debut full-length Lightless introduced the band’s now-signature sound, a blend that continues in its sophomore effort Penitence seven years later: a blend of black metal and grindcore. While easy comparisons would be the sinister cutthroat attack of older Anaal Nathrakh or the unhinged intensity of Siberian Hell Sounds, Apes resides in a blackened interpretation of Nails, Trap Them, or Mammoth Grinder. Crusty riffs and blazing blastbeats are the backbone of Penitence, atop which elements of atmospheric black metal, doom, and noise are introduced. An unbearably suffocating and filthy listen that hits hard, fast, and menacingly, Apes seamlessly offers riffs and grimness in equal measure through an animalistic intensity, its lyrics and atmosphere a constant hopeless reminder of humankind’s futility.

For all of twenty-five minutes, Apes does not waste a single second, thanks to its impressive contributors. Vocalist Alexandre Goulet offers a hardcore-inspired bark that collapses into a primitive howl, further emphasizing the themes present on Penitence, guiding a swarming triple-guitar beatdown that descends into blackened suffocation and climactic solos throughout that settles into a doom-inspired groove periodically, while blastbeats, powerful kicks, and tom-heavy buildups hit at just the right moments. Painted across the album at large is a tapestry of noise, adding a density and rockiness that feels like the suffocation of confession and shame – covered in the darkness of misanthropy. It lacks the clarity of Nails or Trap Them, but its suffocating aims are far better served in this palette.

“Coffin” is a good opener with its filthy crust, amplified by guest Madi Watkins from Year of the Knife, but the track almost serves as a misdirect in its upfront gooey slam-inspired breakdown and thunderous grooves: meatheadedness before the storm, if you will. While the riffs and chugs are present throughout Penitence, they serve as elements among many to Apes’ dynamics. The best examples of this are “Bottom Feeder,” “Shadow Walker,” and “Echoes,” through which moments of clarity offer relentless beatdown, but otherwise focus on down-tuned riffage and tremolo while atmosphere pervades. The title track is likewise a stellar offering because it features an unshakeable riff before slowing the tempo incrementally to a nearly death/doom Clinging to the Trees of a Forest Fire-esque crawl by its conclusion, achieving a nearly unbearable density in closer “Pillars” alongside a scathing melodic motif. “The Great Fire” and “Closure” are more forgettable pieces in comparison, but undeniably crucial to the soundscape that Penitence builds: less a scenic vista and more a path to get to the outlook.

Closer “Pillars” looks out upon the scorched earth of man’s futility with a punishing and animalistic grind-inspired, crusty, blackened, and riffy take on grind. Apes wears its theme firmly on its sleeve, as portrayed in the Werner Herzog sample at the end of “Closure” best summarized in this: “there is no harmony in the universe.” Penitence is a heavy album, balancing bouncy riffs, chugging guitars, and an evocative atmospheric prowess alongside its blackened tendencies – a slowly unfolding album with plenty of secrets to unveil in spite of its extremely brief runtime. While comparisons to Anaal Nathrakh, Nails, and Outergods are fair, they are ultimately incomplete, favoring riff or atmosphere. In this way, Apes soars in an album that’s unafraid to whisk you away to a place dark and unsettling only to kick you to the curb while laughing maniacally at mankind’s achievements. See what monkeys we are, truly.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Secret Swarm Records
Websites: apesqc.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/apesqc
Releases Worldwide: June 14th, 2024

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