Ingurgitating Oblivion is an avant-garde extreme metal band from Germany, who formed in 2001. Their latest opus, “Ontology of Nought,” is their third full-length album; they have also released an EP, two splits, and two demos.
I debated for a long time if I was even going to review this latest album from Ingurgitating Oblivion. It's not that I don't like it–I do. But, for a long time, I just wasn't sure how I could find the words to speak about this album. Even for avant-garde extreme metal, this is really out there. There is so much happening within the songs that it simultaneously appeals to everyone and no one. This is quite possibly the most difficult review I have ever tackled.
I don't mean that in a bad way. I'm just saying that it runs so many gauntlets that it's hard to guarantee what someone will think about this album. Obviously any music is objective but the mileage of “Ontology of Nought” will vary GREATLY depending on who is listening to it.
Overall, they definitely have a foundation built upon experimental blackened death metal. But it’s constantly changing, turning sharp corners, disappearing into holes, and coming out another side that didn’t give any indication of its existence in the first place.
This is my first exposure to the band’s music but, in my research, it seems most people are complaining about this album’s mix/production. I, for one, think it sounds pretty damn good. It’s just muddled enough to add extremity, even when the band is really reaching to the far field. To me, a crystal clear production on this album would be a disservice—it isn’t clean, clear music so why would it need a bright sheen on top of it?
With five songs and a runtime of an hour and fifteen minutes, this isn’t an album that you can listen to casually—this deserves a deep time with time and much patience. Even on a normal album with songs this long, all the details won’t be revealed until multiple listens have been played. But this album? I don’t know if it can be listened to enough, in that respect. This album is so detailed, so jammed packed with details and ideas that a person could probably make a hobby out of listening to this.
I did find appeal in these elements. I am an imaginative person with a brain that never turns off. Listening to something like this really got my creative juices flowing. Despite what my brain can come up with, I live a pretty boring life. I’m not saying I don’t like my life but it is boring. As such, I enjoy music that can take me to places, give me experiences that just aren’t possible. “Ontology of Nought” has certainly created such a scenario. I’m still trying to figure out what type of world this album sends me to but it’s completely different and that must be respected.
I will do my best to talk about each song since there are only five of them, despite their lengths. I could write a full review for each song but I don’t have that much sanity left after running through this beast.
The album begins with “Uncreation's Whirring Loom You Ply with Crippled Fingers,” and hazy tones, dripped in the mysterious arcane that is often the feeling of the album. The build up is slow but intense—this song drips anxiety to me. I don’t know much about jazz but in my research, a lot of other people speak of the jazz leanings. Is this what I’m hearing before all hell breaks around the 5 minute mark? Jazz for hell? It sounds fucked up and the song only gets more depraved from there.
The drumming is maddening, almost doesn’t even seem human. In fact, it’s hard to believe all this is only TWO PEOPLE. I can’t wrap my head around it but the music bends me to its will anyway. After the 8 minute mark, the song goes into an alien soundscape. What is happening??? I better go to the next song before I get trapped here.
“Two Weave the Tapestry of Nought,” is weirdly grandiose in the beginning. Then it feels topsy turvy; I half expected my world to turn upside down and the music to drain out of my years in some form of liquid sludge. But very early on the song reveals that despite all their randomness, the band IS extreme metal first and foremost. That violence, that level of uncompromising brutality, is something I held onto for a focus while trying to survive this song. I think I found something like a rhythm somewhere in all this mess but it’s hard to focus when you have no idea what to expect from second to second. Is there any ANY band out right now that takes this random vibe to such extremes? There is a clean portion about halfway after a clever solo but the clean notes of this band are just as psychotic as the heavier ones, just on a different plane.
“The Blossoms of Your Tomorrow Shall Unfold in My Heart,” begins with oddly placed notes and melodic bass that I found captivating. Will this song be normal? No, sir. The chaos ensues very quickly and I felt like my ears were being violated (compliment, by the way). If the crumbling of a building could be captured and put into audio format….this might be that! The riffs here are diabolical and I think they made me a little nauseous (another complement, by the way). Near the end clean vocals make an appearance. Who is she? Where did she come from? Metallum says her name is Ava Bonam with no information beyond that. Well, she sounds great. Anyway, this song exhausted me and I have to leave.
Ok, I’m back and ready to speak about the last songs. “...Lest I Should Perish with Travel, Effete and Weary, as My Knees Refuse to Bear Me Thither,” is the shortest song on the album, not even 11 minutes long. Slackers! Ava makes another appearance, her ethereal voice the only gentle element on the entire album. This song actually unfolds in a smooth, dreamy sort of way. But it grows darker and twists up in odd spirals as the song builds up. Waking up from a dream and feeling like you just were put through the ringer is never fun but apparently the band decided to turn that feeling into a song.
“The Barren Earth Oozes Blood, and Shakes and Moans, to Drink Her Children's Gore,” might be the best song title this year. This one begins more immediately than the other four because it explodes after one second. But then it pulls back and dances around clean rhythms. Then it goes back into world ending death metal. This song pulls and pushes from one end of the extreme to the other. It feels like being put into a blender, turned into gooey paste, frozen into cubes, and then put into a shaker.
Ultimately, I enjoyed my time with “Ontology of Nought” even though I wasn’t sure what I was listening to—and I’m still not sure. I like music that steps outside the box and tries for something different. Ingurgitating Oblivion have written an album that exists in a world that never had the box. But regardless of whether you like it or hate it, it is without a doubt an interesting listen that deserves to be experienced at least once.
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