What would you get if Entombed, Converge and Trap Them decided to fight each other? It sounds like the start of a really bad joke but the answer is in fact Alienated Despair, the latest offering from “crustyhardcoregrindydeathmetallers” Implore.
Clocking in at just over 30 minutes, Alienated Despair beats the living shit out of you with eleven unrelenting tracks of crusty-hardcore-grind-death-metal insanity, starting as it means to go on right from the off with opening track ‘Faculties of Time’ giving you about three seconds warning before the onslaught begins – a bit like the “clever girl” scene in Jurassic Park where the raptor pokes its head through the bushes and you can just see it in Robert Muldoon’s eyes that he knows he’s fucked.
The rest of the album is a claustrophobic whirlwind of the aforementioned blueprint – a solid foundation, which, whilst not the most original sound on the planet, is nonetheless brutally effective and executed with military precision. The sixth track on the album, entitled ‘Never Again’, is a contender for track of the album, offering a brief respite from the madness with a Baptists-esque intro, lulling you into a false sense of security before pulling you back in and mangling you further.
If there is a criticism, it is perhaps that whilst the album is undoubtedly impressive in the way it is written and performed, and leaves you knowing you’ve just listened to a great record, it offers very few “memorable” riffs; there’s not much that you’re going to be whistling or humming to yourself for days after listening to it. Indeed, whilst there are plenty of moments in the album that will have you headbanging away to yourself whilst strangers look at you in horror and bemusement, you get the feeling it’s just a handful of “big riffs” from being labelled as a landmark album for the genre. However, you can expect to see Alienated Despair on many people’s “Best Albums of 2019” lists, and deservedly so!
Alienated Despair is out now via Century Media Records and can be purchased here.
Words: Luke Davison
