Band:	Imperial Triumphant
Album:	Abyssal Gods
Style:	Avantgarde metal, Black metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	February 27, 2015
Guest review by:	Alex F

01. From Palaces Of The Hive
02. Abyssal Gods
03. Dead Heaven
04. Celestial War Rape
05. Opposing Holiness
06. Krokodil
07. Twins
08. Vatican Lust
09. Black Psychedelia
10. Metropolis

On this album, a dizzying array of complex instrumentation beats repulsive dissonance into your ear for just over 40 minutes until you finally finish the journey that is Abyssal Gods. This experience is not for the faint of heart nor easily distracted. To me this is a record which requires full focus in order to grasp the intent and nuances behind each song.

The layers of guitar, drums, and bass are so dense it is almost impossible to believe that each song contains just three instrument tracks. While the band has two drummers, it should be noted that they only take turns recording in the studio and do not actually layer multiple drum parts in each track. This was actually an area of confusion for me initially, as at times the music is so unbelievable intense and suffocating it seems as though there may actually be multiple drum parts. The guitar-work is nothing truly unique, utilizing a slightly more death metal tinged Deathspell Omega influence of dissonance and structuring. The drumming falls into the same category of not necessarily being unique, but rather attaining such a high level of quality that it becomes easy to overlook.

Now this is not to say that the album as a whole lacks uniqueness or innovation, because I would wager that anyone reading this would be hard pressed to find a single album that sounds very similar to Abyssal Gods. The song structures contribute to the very foreign sound of this album, as each song takes on a completely natural progression, with little distinction in the way of verses or choruses. Rather the songs build either slowly or rapidly to a climax, only for all of the tension to come toppling down on the listener's head in brilliant destruction. The album is, in essence, a formless beast whose only purpose is to strike fear in the ears of the listener.

What really prevents this album from holding higher regard in my opinion stems directly from the stylistic approaches the band takes. Excellently executed as they may be, this often abstract array of musical expression prevents me from truly grasping onto any aspect of the music to fully enjoy. Is this just a case of me being unable to fully comprehend the musical complexity? Perhaps, however numerous other abstract and avantgarde artists have tickled my fancy while still completely straying from standard musical convention.

I feel that Imperial Triumphant have almost certainly found a unique sound that is theirs and theirs alone, however in order for their music to be anything more than just "enjoyable" and rise into the ranks of innovative masterpieces, their approach will need more time to mature. Abyssal Gods is almost undeniably a good album in the ears of this reviewer, however the potential for excellence is so obvious yet never truly reached.