vote
7.5
- Band:
INERT - Duration: 00:18:18
- Available from: 05/07/2024
- Label:
-
Abstract Emotions
The return of the Madrid band is little more than a snack for the hunger of their listeners: only eighteen minutes long, but they weigh like a truck loaded with inert material, and at least reassure us that their sparse but intense production in the Covid era was not just an occasional pastime.
The balance of opposites, an expression with which the singer Santi himself described their sound in an interview a couple of years ago, is confirmed as the key to understanding their songs. The songwriting always clearly starts from the riffs, which with their obsessiveness expand into a vision that is both hypnotic and enveloping like tar; the excellent alternation between the abrasive and violent vocal lines and the sudden, but frequent, appearance of clean, almost hieratic passages contributes greatly to the musical identity of Inerth. We had previously made a reference to Burton C. Bell in his golden days, but it is now right to pay full tribute to the quintet's personality; which does not leave behind the other obvious references (Godflesh, “godfathers” who they also supported on the last tour, Amebix, Killing Joke, Pitchshifter, … in short, the picture was already clear to you), but also tries in brevity to put a full stop in their evolution, with four songs, each one a mirror of a quadrant of their dark sonic kaleidoscope.
“Midlife Wasteland” is an intense procession that moves between a rocky riff and short noise lashes, to perfectly tell the midlife crisis (but perhaps of every moment of our life), “Oblivion” has a very acid guitar, soon buried under a remarkable sound avalanche, on which the telluric drums and an extremely melodic interpretation on the vocal front stand out. “Fentanyl” is a song that perfectly combines industrial martiality and almost death metal rot, perfectly in line with the mental (and social) devastation that the aforementioned opioid causes, while “AI” closes this (in)human cross-section moving alternating between the midtempo of the verses, an epic and impactful ride when the guitars explode and a deafening final feedback, perfect for making our ears bleed.
Despite their title, Inerth show no arrogance: they have all the credentials to challenge the gods and remind us mortals of the pain of daily existence to which we are condemned.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM