Cursus Impasse: The Pendlomic Vows

Amidst all the weirdness, the jangly dissonance and the lurching rock beats, I gotta ask: does anyone actually enjoy listening to this? I understand the appeal as a curiosity piece, it's why I checked Howls of Ebb out in the first place, but how many people actually regularly get the urge to bump Cursus Impasse? It seems like the general consensus on this is "I don't really like listening to this but it's cool and different and I bet someone else would like it a lot more". Where is that someone else? There's the odd few out there that like weird shit for the sake of it, I guess, but then there's also this air of pretension to this album that holds it back from feeling truly deranged. It's a little too artistic for its own good. I just can't fathom the target audience. No one? Is that the point? Did that make it retroactively popular? Who the fuck knows? Who the fuck cares?

Upon first listen, this is super cool. The faster riffs are admittedly very unique, with a strange clangy tone that would sound like sloppy noise if it didn't consistently repeat itself, and the straightforward drumming style makes the un-melodies discernible. The vocals are a weak, breathy grumble that lurks in the periphery of the music, focusing on atmosphere over precision (as would be expected). At its best, Cursus Impasse isn't gonna be something you've heard before. It approaches the dissodeath style from a different angle than most in that where most bands take a chaotic, almost linear approach to drumming at times, the drum patterns and overall pacing of this album is very middling, simple and extremely easy to follow. "Predictable" might be one way to put it: the emphasis is usually on the snare, and there's not a lot of cymbal play or off-beats to throw things off the rails like this style usually has. It's not bad for what it is at all, it is different than the usual, but at the same time it's hard to say I prefer it. Perhaps the intent was to give the thing more of a "primal" feel?

I think my main gripe is in the pacing. The simpler drumbeats wouldn't get boring if they weren't repeated so egregiously. Cursus Impasse is full of bloated, creepy atmospheric sections that drag on long after the mood has already been set. I would almost call this a doom album, because a majority of the tracks are mostly just a slow layering and repetition of a riffs that exists to be weird and creepy only to go into...another weird and creepy riff that sounds really similar at the same speed, oh wow cool. None of the riffs are outright bad - a lot of them are great, even - but they nearly always overstay their welcome. "Cabals of Molder" is the "single" here, and it's essentially two ideas: fast dissonant riff followed by stuttery, clangy groove over a beat with snare hits on 2 and 4. They're cool ideas, sure, but you don't need six minutes to get the picture. It starts to drag a bit by the end, and it's the best and most succinct track on the album. Not a great sign.

I suppose you could check this out if you haven't, as it is quite original, but then you're just listening to this band to say that you've listened to them, and that's not gonna get you laid anytime soon. Just know that your first listen is gonna be the most enjoyment you'll get out of the album, because Cursus Impasse is arranged in a boring, deliberate way that works against the unhinged vibe the music is going for, As the novelty fades after a few listens, the atmosphere does as well.