And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.
Imperforata is a relatively new Indonesian brutal death metal band that formed in 2014. After putting out a demo, an EP, and a single, they released their first full-length album Awaken Sanity on May 31 of this year. The cover art intrigues me. It depicts a legion of demons surrounding an unfortunate man. On the surface level, it’s just meant to look cool. On a deeper level, it shows how innumerable demons torment humanity on a daily basis, constantly tempting them to sin and bringing misery upon them. Many people living in the modern world believe there’s no such thing as demons, failing to realize their lack of belief makes them the most susceptible to demonic influence.
Unlike many other brutal death metal bands, Imperforata focuses on more than just being as brutal as possible. They also take the time to create a dark atmosphere and compose great riffs. This is made clear by the crushing groove riffs on the first track. The drumming is quite similar to most other brutal death metal bands from the region. One minute they play focused mid-paced rhythms, the next they play rapid fire blast beats. All of these different patterns are then punctuated by intricate fills. They’re not all that original, but they’re played extremely well, and that’s what truly matters to me.
The vocalist performs a hoarse yet deep growl reminiscent of Frank Mullen. Sometimes they get lower in pitch, and there are also certain moments when they are accompanied by impish rasps. I’ve heard this style plenty of times in the past, but it’s still great to listen to. The guitars offer up a nice bit of variety. During the mid-paced parts they play groovy chord progressions. When the tempo picks up, they play vicious tremolo riffs. There are also moments on songs like “Blood Eagle” when they play more melodic riffs that remind me of death metal bands from the late-1990s.
Imperforata is another fine addition to the Indonesian brutal death metal scene. Their guitar work is especially impressive. May they continue to produce more eviscerating music like this.