New England oppressive black metal/industrial act Invertia released their self-titled album  over the spring and, for the uninformed, oppressive black metal is exactly what it sounds like. There are, in fact, other industrial black metallers, like France’s N.K.V.D., and what separates this sound from the majority of other post-black metal acts is the heavy use of digital sounds to create a mangled, twisted soundscape. Invertia utilizes digital sounds well enough that the world they create is one no one wants to live in.

Starting off with ‘Facility Of The Feeble’, digital sounds come into play and segue into a majorly thrashing riff, coupled with a crushing drum track. This is black metal on drugs; the track ‘A Glowing Of Gray’ is an amalgamation of industrial-rock flavor and disjointed riffs. The drum tracking gets faster until it turns into pure noise. Tim Winson’s digital prowess far exceeds expectations; his ability to morph and distort typical analog instruments into a giant cacophony of noise is unprecedented. Dave Coppola handles all the analog instruments, including vocals, ranging from blood-curdling, soaked-in-black growls to incantation like shrills.

Most of the tracks bleed together and offer little variation aside from differently placed digital sounds. ‘Crimson’ is by and large the most different, however, offering up a thrash metal type solo in the middle of the track. The tracks are short, which can be a good thing, but it leaves little for variation. ‘Blasphemy Be My Name’ is the longest track, clocking in at around six minutes. It’s a track less furious, and it inches along at almost a crawl, rather than the breakneck speed Invertia played on previous tracks.

Their new single, ‘The Sidewinding’, is full of stop-start moments and sampling. A blistering five minutes full of blast beats and digital noise, coupled with furious riffing makes for a track that is demonstrably more interesting. It follows a strict path, however, from spider-like riff patterns to intense blast beats, going from one moment to the next feels exhausting.

Unlike all the post-black metal bands to come out of the underground, the blending of industrial music with the respective metal genre falls into category of unique. Although it can get wearisome and the tracks meld together like they’ve been knit, Invertia cannot be discredited for the lack of trying to create something wholly different than everyone else.

7/10

Bill Haff

 Invertia – Facebook