Iperyt
No State Of Grace

What better way to cool off in these scorching late June days than with an energetic disc of chilling Industrial Black/Death Nuclear? A slushie?

The Iperyt hail from the extremely religious Polish city of Katowice. Quiet lads (two of them also play in Infernal War) if it weren't for their constant obsessions and perversions concerning war, atomic bombs, holocausts, and genocides; the name Iperyt itself is the Polish transliteration of "Sulphur Mustard" or "Mustard Gas", a fearsome chemical weapon widely used from World War I onwards. But let's get to the album!

"No State Of Grace", self-produced and the second album of the band, consists of 11 super-fast and ultra-violent tracks, either due to the unhealthy and well-programmed lightning-fast Drum Machine skeleton of the songs, or due to the sharp guitars of the three guitarists that make up the band. A fury in perfect Black Metal style with some Death Metal accents (as if that weren't enough) and some not overly complex solos to strengthen it all. The vocals (screams and growls) are acidic and overwhelming, proclaiming personal nihilistic and entirely negative attacks that go hand in hand with the mass of samples and gabber techno beats enriching the whole, offering the listener a sonic mass that is acidic and impenetrable, furious, and hammering, but also grants itself to strange and convulsive melodies.

The album’s strength indeed lies in this, a violent "in your face" attack with no slowdowns except in parts where samples and electronic grooves are emphasized which, mind you, are not just inserted but guarantee a perfect and uniform glacial chaos, and by the end of the album, we will find ourselves exactly like the nice guy on the cover with a gas mask, totally excoriated and gray. The atmosphere during the forty-five minutes of listening is precisely this: bombings, nuclear catastrophes, and desolation due to the fact that human madness and its hunger for power have overwhelmingly triumphed over humanity itself, and the latter can do nothing but accept it. An objective and strictly negative vision of a world not so far from ours.

The strong tracks from the album are the title track, "Anti Human Hate Generator", and "The Antithesis" truly engaging with their techno rhythms, "Keep Your Eyes Closed" unsettling with its sample repeated throughout the song, "The Player" with an effective chorus, and "Nuclear Mornings" brutal and super-fast. The production does not shine for cleanliness, although it is cold enough and matches the style of the band.

Iperyt do not impress with originality; there are those who in their genre have enjoyed exploring even more the concept of electro/noise experimentation combined with extreme metal, but they can count on the effectiveness of their devastating almost-Grind attack which, in certain situations, reminded me of the late The Berzerker.

If you are fans of violent and claustrophobic sounds and love metal combined with electronics, give it a listen; it might interest you. If you don't like this kind of experiments, stay well away, a slushie is better!