HOWLS OF EBB — Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows (review)

HOWLS OF EBB — Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows album cover

Album · 2016 · Death Metal

4.5/5 · 2016-10-05
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As someone who listens to a lot of albums from different genres of metal, I have to say that most of the them have very standard sounds at their core, even the more adventurous and progressive ones. Most have comparable artists/releases. Every so often though there is a release like Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows (2016), which is the second full-length album by American two-piece act Howls of Ebb (formerly three-piece). It's an album where the genre elements going into it are familiar but what comes out sounds unlike anything else I've ever come across.

Genre descriptions I've previously read for Howls of Ebb did little to prepare me for what Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows was going to sound like. Usually these guys seem to be described as being somewhere between death and black metal and to a certain extent they do deliver a blackened death metal sound, with a little bit of doom metal creeping in as well. However what actually characterises this record and makes it stand out is how experimental it is. Even when playing what could be considered a fairly standard section of death metal music Howls of Ebb somehow manage to sound different and even weird. Even their song titles could be considered unusual with names like 7 Ascetic Cinders, 8 Dowries of gA'nOm or The 6th Octopul'th Grin. Calling the album an avant-garde blackened death metal album wouldn't be far off the mark, though of course other listeners may come up with their own classification. And that's the beauty of this rather twisted sounding album, it doesn't seem to give a damn about any sort of genre boundaries.

This unusual kind of sound has made Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows an intriguing release to keep coming back to and explore a little more each time, but I honestly couldn't say after even a couple of listens whether I actually liked what these guys were doing. It's instantly interesting and impressive because its different, but it took me several more listens to decide on whether or not it was actually in a good way. I eventually decided that it definitely was, but the album didn't instantly sell itself to me, so it could never be considered the kind of album that would serve as a go-to for quick thrills (unless you really like weird stuff, I guess). But as I've found with some other releases put out by the I, Voidhanger Records label Howls of Ebb have created something that rewards the patient listener who will take their time and really dig deep into their music. It's much like Spectral Lore's III (2014) and Midnight Odyssey's Shards of Silver Fade (2015) in that respect, though its significantly shorter running time does make it easier to digest than either of those albums, though those aren't weird like this is, so the comparison is still valid.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Some of the early 90s Scandinavian artists like Cadaver and Carbonized have probably been of some influence, although this twisted avant garde type of death metal has evolved a lot since then.

Nightfly wrote:

more than 2 years ago

You've hit the nail on the head there Adam, well put. This has got to be the most bizarre death metal album I've ever heard...if indeed that's what it is.