Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence

Impetuous Ritual's debut album was one nightmarish adventure as Ignis Faatus and Omenous Fugue were beating Portal at their own game while they even played in that very same band; but five years later, an even darker beast was unleashed with Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence. This album imporves upon the debut immensely and is one of the best albums released in 2014.

The most obvious and immediate change is the sound of the music. While Impetuous Ritual's basic approach of chaotic riffing whirlwinds with gloomy slower sections thrown in remains the same between the two releases, Unholy Congregation... actually sounds grittier and more raw sounding than on Relentless Execution of Ceremonial Excrescence; you'll notice this with the drums especially. This change reminds me of the contrast in sound between Antediluvian's first and second albums; and like Antediluvian, Impetuous Ritual are better off with this more eerie sound. It magnifies the hellish atmosphere that's generated throughout the album. Relentless Execution... is unnerving enough as it is, but Unholy Congregation... is downright terrifying.

Rather than start with an onerous intro like "Elegy", this album begins immediately with a fast track in the form of "Verboten Genesis"; and immediately you'll see the faster tracks are executed much better here than on the previous album. While they remain chaotic, the variation and riff changes in the songs are still noticeable and each track has some very memorable sections. As with Relentless Execution... though, there are some tracks that slow the drum beat down; and again, these tracks are the ones that left the strongest impression on me. "Despair" is the first of these as it ushers forth nine minutes of...despair. Often these slower sections sound more hellish and frightening than the faster ones, and they're placed in the right track order for maximum effect on this album. For instance, "Metastasis" acts as an excellent bridge track as "Womb of Acrimony" plays right into it and while the guitars maintain a tremolo riff, the drums slow down and are joined by a bell tolling ominously in the first half of the song. This track is then succeeded by "Abhorrent Paragon" with a fast first half but concluded by an awesome sounding outro riff that acts as the perfect setup for the final track.

That final track is "Blight" and it's one hell of a finale. It's a fifteen minute monolith paced similarly to "Despair" and just sums up the whole nightmare that this album is. There's no lyrics here, the howling and wailing heard here are simply just that, and the sense of dread builds and builds until the end where the guitar at last breaks down into chugs and finally to long unmuted chords as the drums cease. And it's here that the listener's journey ends: in the darkest, deepest part of Hell and it's here that they'll stay.

Unholy Congregation of Hypocritical Ambivalence is one fucked up trip and I absolutely adore it. Simply recommending this to everyone who enjoys dissonant, nightmarish death metal a la Portal doesn't do this album justice. I enjoy Portal, but Impetuous Ritual have blasted everything Portal have done out of the water with this album. This is one nightmare you'll never want to end.