After releasing the excellent "City of the Sun" (2014) and "Contrapasso" (2016) two years apart, Norwegians Seven Impale had disappeared from the radar, to the point where we were entitled to think that the band had split up. So it's with both surprise and delight that we discover their new album, "Summit", after a seven-year hiatus.
Some members took advantage of this period to invest in new musical projects. Stian Økland, for example, embarked on an international career as an opera singer after graduating as a tenor, and Håkon Vinje joined the black metal band Enslaved in 2017.
Don't be taken in by the soft crystalline notes that introduce 'Hunter', listening to "Summit" will be anything but calm and harmonious. Seven Impale are no strangers to distorted sounds and violent outbursts bordering on madness, and they've in no way renounced these impulses in their new opus, which features four tracks of around ten minutes in length.
Not only have they not renounced their psychotic tendencies, they've even amplified them. Is this collateral damage linked to the keyboardist's joining Enslaved? Seven Impale hasn't entirely converted to black metal (no growls, phew!), but the riffs have become heavier, and the breaths that kept the listener from suffocating on the two previous albums have been reduced to a minimum. The relative lightness introduced by the vocals and saxophone is often undermined by the percussive drumming and aggressive guitar and bass riffs.
The jazz-rock feel sometimes gives way to heavy metal (the characteristic rhythm of 'Hydra' and its purple organ solo, for example), even if the music is still reminiscent of Van der Graaf Generator and King Crimson who would have forgot to counterbalance the violence of their abrasive music with a few luminous moments...
Seven Impale has lost none of its originality or strength. While "Summit" retains the attraction of its predecessors, with dark, suffocating compositions that grab the listener by the gut, it lacks a few melodic, gentle passages to counterbalance the big-sound effect.