Sometimes band spellings are just fucking wrong. Australia's Inverloch is a solid black metal band, and one with a strong pedigree, boasting members of diSEMBOWLMENT. The group's debut EP/mini-LP/thing with three long songs is entitled d.USKâ¦.Subside, alternately written as Dusk | Subside. I'm just gonna call it Dusk Subside and move on.
If you want to hear noise and silence pushed to their extremes, Inverloch is your band. Opening track "Within Frozen Beauty" begins so imperceptibly that it's legitimately shocking when the blast beats kick in just shy of the two-minute mark. Admittedly, metal this, well, crusty, is going to have its detractors, and those grumbling Cookie Monster vocals aren't going to help. But the music is suitably dark and twisting.
"The Menin Road" slows the pace down to a bone-crunching crawl. It gradually adds in more ambient elements, but those threatening growls ensure the track retains a bit of malice throughout. "Shadows of the Flame," by comparison, is almost shoegazey in the way the guitars add an ethereal layer. The drums and vox keep it tethered in the metal world, however, and it's got the blast beats to prove it.
It's this dichotomy of extremes that keeps Inverloch interesting. One minute the band is off exploring some dreamy soundscape; the next it's grinding your face into face-mush. These songs can be hauntingly beautiful, and punishingly destructive. Either way, Dusk Subside is a promising, thrashing effort.