Inevitable End
The Oculus
6.1
Sweden’s Inevitable End is a bit of a metal chameleon, starting as a sort of thrash / death metal hybrid for their demos and then morphing into a surprisingly decent tech-death band for their underrated 2009 debut The Severed Inception. However, those that appreciated The Severed Inception may not recognize the 2011 iteration of Inevitable End. I sure as shit didn’t.
“Tell Us, Parasites” will immediately baffle death-metalheads looking for an appropriate follow up to The Severed Inception as it’s a chaotic, tech/math metal expulsion of huge Dillinger-esque or The Plasmarifle proportions; crazy off-kilter skronky, squealing time changes, mid-range hardcore shouts, a few growls, a jazzy interlude, some grinding blasts and nothing that comes close to death metal.And while you hope it might be a simple opening track curve-ball, “Escaping the Black Hole” and “Zen” cement that Inevitable End has indeed jumped ship from death metal to some form of modern eclectic discordant metal, that would be at home on Black Market Activities.
Even when and if you get over the shock of the new Inevitable End, it’s still a jarring sound, despite the obvious talent and intensity. With one or two exceptions the album's 13 cuts are short sharp chaotic spurts of modern math metal like “Dogmaties Paralies”, “While Surpassing Ether” and “Cadaver Inc”. There’s no real chord-based riffs or repetitive structures, just pure unbridled spazzy metal and even a few experimental programmed tangents here and there. The couple of exceptions are the five-minute “The Supreme Treachery”, which still isn’t death metal, but instead is a crusty, d-beat number with an odd Arabic segue about a third of the way in, before an absolutely bonkers last few moments and the title track which has an almost classic grindcore gait with modern tech spurts. Oh, and there’s a short sub one-minute Southern interlude in "Of the Well”. Other than the blistering intensity and musicianship, there’s simply no remnant of death metal at all here, so take that as you will.
The Oculus will either be viewed as either a brave band trying a new experimental direction and utilizing their considerable skill for a genre that allows them to show what they can do without the restrictions of death metal or a band that’s jumped the shark, sold out and now resides next to the countless other tech/mathcore bands. I think I’m leaning toward the latter.
