Band:	Inchoate
Album:	IV: The Revenant
Style:	Alternative rock
Release date:	May 2009
A review by:	Bas

01. IV: The Revenant [Instrumental]

Instrumental albums come and go. Most of the time they're just a long succession of solos that has no idea where the hell it wants to go. In Inchoate's case things are a bit different though. Brandon Duncan doesn't play a single solo throughout the whole disc and instead delivers us a fine platter of thrash, death, post core and a little bit sludge, noise and even doom. Riff after riff is thrown at your head, while the drum program gallops along in whatever way it deems fitting. Crunchy thrash metal riff-fests are followed by introspective sludge parts. Simple string-plucking builds up a momentum, getting faster and faster along the way, only to ebb away again a few moments after. Noise soundscapes and death metal crescendos, sporadic bursts of fast drumming and a multitude of extreme metal climaxes; 'IV: The Revenant' is a fountain of ideas, spewing forth new motions and thoughts by the minute.

There is one big difference between Inchoate and most other instrumental project. Brandon manages to make a very convincing stance that he knows exactly what he's doing, why he's doing it and what he wants his music to sound like. Every single part of the music fits with the previous and every single part has its right to be there when you see it on a bigger scale. Also with 32 minutes he doesn't make the common mistake of making a too long instrumental CD. Actually it's one of the only ones that leaves me begging for more.

IV: The Revenant is definitely not something for everyone. It constantly switches between styles and might seem chaotic in places. Especially the drumming, but also the songwriting as a whole, has a very playful approach and it's obvious that Brandon didn't want to make music that would be widely appreciated; he wanted to make what he wanted to hear. That's something almost everyone says, but only rarely is it displayed in such a convincing light as on this record.

If you want something straightforward; you'll hate this one. If you only like extremely virtuosic albums that focus more on technique than songwriting; you'll hate this one too. Personally though; I consider 'IV: The Revenant' as one of the most fascinating instrumental albums, and songs, that I've ever heard. Probably second place, right after Sepia Dreamer's The Sublime.

WATCH OUT: This is a love it or hate it album