Richmond's Inter Arma, reigning masters of the slow build, continue to trace a distinctly ambitious trajectory through modern metal. Their impulses tend toward the epic, but never bloat; they meld several styles - doom, sludge, and hard psych - without coming off like dilettantes.
This newest full-length, 'Sulphur English', finds them mining deeper in the proggy organic doom fields that made both 'Paradise Gallows' and 'Sky Buria'l so thrilling while expanding further the on the psych-folk strain that made those albums' peaks seem so lofty. Few metal bands have ever made such effective use of acoustic instruments in truly heavy environments as Inter Arma do; the acoustic guitar that stitches 'Stillness' together is as effective as any overdriven bass; a two-minute gloomy piano-and-feedback piece titled 'Observances of the Path' rolls out the carpet for 'The Atavist's Meridian', an album highlight that rides a gigantic, roomy drum sound into realms akin to a murkier Paradise Lost, a more aggressive Om, and a dreamier, more stoned Kylesa all playing together at once.
Few bands make music as engrossing as Inter Arma; their lengthy, almost meditative songs rumble patiently forward until you're ready to get thrown off a bridge - and then they throw you, with great force.
CD version
Tracklisting:
1. Bumgarder
2. A Waxen Sea
3. Citadel
4. Howling Lands
5. Stillness
6. Observances of the Path
7. The Atavist's Meridian
8. Blood on the Lupines
9. Sulphur English
