Inter Arma - Sulphur English (2019)^{Release ID: 8298}

I see the love for this one, and if I had listened to this album early on in my Atmospheric Sludge challenge journey I would have stopped here because this is not for me. This album frustrated me to all hell. This hits all of my personal stereotypes and gripes of the genre. Sludge is such a good word to refer to this type of music, and this one for me doesn't even have the "Atmosphere" that helps me struggle through the sludge. There are elements of black metal I liked, there are the death doom elements that I liked, and I think the vocalist does really well with doom style. I would think a straight forward death/doom album would be better for my taste and I am not even the biggest fan of that either. The sludgier, messier melodies did not want me to listen to this. It frustrated me because when his clean vocals or the good growls hit in it I enjoyed, but then I had to tread through the "sludge" to get to the moments in between to enjoy, entirely my subjective opinion and hate to rate such a beloved record of the genre low but I'm here to be the other side of opinion and to share that if you have the same opinion as I do of sludge this is not for you but I have now found that there are other albums that get included in the genre I like much better that to my ears don't sound like this. If you don't like this album like I do, look into other Atmospheric Sludge metal as they don't all sound like this.  

Massive.

Inter Arma hit me with the swift one-two punch of Paradise Gallows in 2016 into Sulphur English in 2019. Paradise Gallows eventually won me over with its beautifully slow building but chaotic atmosphere, whereas Sulphur English wastes no time in getting straight to the crushing riffs filled with desolate anger. I keep finding myself coming back to this album and it's just as heavy and engaging as when I first heard it, which is an impressive feat of Atmospheric Sludge songwriting as Inter Arma show that the fires they've set are far from being snuffed out.

"Massive" is the word that I've been using most to describe Sulphur English, as well as any synonyms in-between. Titanic. Absolutely colossal. A fiery behemoth. Rather than take their time building up to huge, memorable climaxes like in Paradise Gallows, Inter Arma chooses to up the density and intensity of tracks like "A Waxen Sea", "Citadel", and "Sulphur English" with a room-filling guitar tone and relentless percussion. They're still fantastic at giving the sludgy riffs enough room to sit and reverberate as well as effectively crescendoing into those massive moments, but on a tighter time schedule than their previous efforts. That sort of command over their style shows Inter Arma are still maturing and iterating on their songwriting approach, which is exciting as they've succeeded in creating one of the most unique album atmospheres I've heard in a while.

Inter Arma bring out the heft with the riffs in "A Waxen Sea", "Citadel", and even the second half of "Stillness". Each note feels like a step a 10,000 pound giant would take through a charred wasteland, the ground shaking and crumbling under its weight as the drums and percussion echo off into the distance. While the mixing and production may be loud, it's well done in that it creates a huge atmosphere that other sounds can be layered in. Echos and reverb from the vocals and more subtle drum parts fade and eventually get lost behind the wall of guitar and bass, which helps keep the atmosphere interesting and dynamic. Each track brings something new to the table, whether it's the pounding drums of "Howling Lands", the slow and somber contrast of "Blood on the Lupines", or the absolute chaos of "Sulphur English". Even the vocals have enough variety to keep each track sounding fresh through the rather long run-time. Although the intermissions of "Bumgardner" and "Observances of the Path" as well as the slowness of "Blood on the Lupines" grind the album to a halt, it serves as a necessary break from the disarray and heaviness that the rest of the album has. Amidst all that disarray, however, are intricate and engaging melodies and rhythms that I consistently want to come back to.

Engagement is where I think Sulphur English really shines. It's constantly changing and building towards something and after they've wound up the tension to its breaking point, Inter Arma deliver some truly crushing performances that are worth every second of buildup. Although I've always enjoyed Sludge Metal, Paradise Gallows and Sulphur English have been the first time I've been fully engrossed in the actual atmosphere of an Atmospheric Sludge Metal release. The feelings of aggression, isolation, and anger washing over a charred and dead landscape as husks of life attempt to find purpose and atonement for the destruction they've wrought is a vivid picture that I never thought I'd be able to paint only through music and an album cover.

Pretentious artsy feelings aside, Sulphur English has remained exciting and surprisingly accessible for me. While dense, tension-filled, and drawn out, I've never found myself avoiding it. It has engaging riffs and themes on every track and a unique feel that I can't get anywhere else. If Inter Arma continue to iterate on their style the trilogy of Paradise Gallows, Sulphur English, and their next album may be absolutely legendary in terms of Atmospheric Sludge Metal, at least for me. For now, however, this massive fiery maelstrom of an album is easily at the top of 2019 with no signs of being dethroned anytime soon.

A titanic behemoth of an album. Exceptionally mature atmo-sludge / death doom that really does feel like it has pushed the genres forward. Underlying most of the tracks, particularly the duo of Citadel and Howling Lands, is a ritualistic rhythm that feels particularly primal and earthy. Most of the songs mete out a fair amount of punishment, as you should expect from any death doom album worth it's salt, it is, however, anything but relentless, as in Stillness which begins as a gentle acoustic composition, building ominously to a howling guitar that doesn't sound a million miles from Dave Gilmour on Comfortably Numb and Blood on the Lupines, an almost dreamlike tale of a wanderer's ill-fated path to a cursed village and the warning he receives there. None of the tracks are as monolithic as is usual for this kind of extreme doom, with a progressive edge to most of the songs that weaves them through with a little more colour than you may expect. Don't misunderstand, this album also crushes like you wouldn't believe, check out Citadel, The Atavist's Meridian or the title track and tell me this doesn't slay like it should! Any fan of extreme doom metal should grab this future classic immediately.