THE HOWLS OF EBB – Cursus Impasse

Howls of Ebb describe their brand of metal as limbonic death hymns, which I suppose makes some sense, but might not be that much help to someone trying to figure out whether they should take the plunge on this latest release. For my money, this is very textured death metal full of idiosyncratic choices, disharmonic voices, hellish noises, and tortured chords. If you want something original and challenging, then Howls of Ebb is definitely worth the price of admission.

On the first few listens of this record, I was completely blown away by the strangeness and aura of otherworldly insanity. However, after quite a few more spins, and once the fevered brain of the listener makes sense of the tracks, Cursus Impasse loses some of its dark lusture. At that stage it becomes apparent that the song writing quality of the first couple of tracks is not maintained throughout. At that stage, the listener finds they have been wandering the same maddening maze for hours, but that by now the thrill has lessened.

Overall then – worth a try for those in search of something truly original and a showcase of a band with tremendous potential, but not one you couldn’t live without…

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