INNUMERABLE FORMS - PUNISHMENT IN FLESH LP

LULU'S:

Innumerable Forms have been one of modern America’s finest death doom metal acts for years. Strong influence was present in the early recordings from the Finnish hordes of apocalyptic death metal such as Abhorrence and Crypt Of Cerberos, as well as North American legends Incantation and Immolation, and more recently elements of Australian pioneers diSEMBOWELMENT have all been harnessed and given way to a frozen current all of its own.

The songs travel between haunting, slow, and heavily down tuned passages, explosions of violent riffs enunciated by thumping drums, and almost divine guitar melodies which seep further into the abyss of your mind than you can imagine, with exquisitely executed changes in direction. The music is densely atmospheric and undeniably powerful. A rumbling chasm of a very dark and very tangible current. Much of the power is displayed in the steady and determined nature of the performances, and the vocals encapsulate every essence of the atmosphere touched upon in this review. Experiences of a live sets some years ago left me with no doubt that Innumerable Forms is one of the greatest bands I’d ever bare witness. A cold rejoice in the bleakness and torment. Awakened consciousness of the once dreaming son coming to grips with the nature of the harsh and relentless warrior Goddess of love and destruction and the Demiurge.

On this album all three feel one and the same. The child, the scimitar and the cage. Crawling chaos crystallised into a frozen womb of gross and dense matter. Doom. A embattled gnostic soul betrayed by hope of escape. Blasts. Almost defeated yet still raging. Crushing. Until the ultimate breath. Darkness. Punishment in flesh.