The centerpiece of the album is “Stillness,” a 9 minute descent into morose melody and pain.
Glimpses of clean lyrics, hidden behind effects, deepen the mood when imagined as marching orders. True to its title, “Howling Lands” lays bare a battle march, as if an army of half-rotted corpses is screaming in agony as they drag themselves out of hell (or rather, as the lyrics allude, into hell). “Citadel” keeps the slow pace with sounds of Morbid Angel circa 2000’s Gateways to Annihilation and 2003’s Heretic, continuing the Sumerian path laid by those two efforts, carefully alluding to the familiar drum-heavy grooves and shrieking guitar solo without aping the sound entirely. Which leads us to Sulphur English, the latest entry in the band’s impressive catalog.Įight songs in total, following the disturbing Horror movie-like introduction of “Bumgardner,” the brutality of “A Waxen Sea” adapts the mood and progressions of the opening track before delving into effusive sludge. Now, what are Inter Arma? That question is a little more complex. The band mixes the seemingly disparate genres of Sludge, Ambient, Black, and Death while effortlessly weaving in the crisp sadness of the Peaceville Three (Anathema, My Dying Bride, Paradise Lost) who ruled the Doom landscape of the ’90s. Childers, and Guitarists Steven Russell and Trey Dalton.
This album sees the debut of Bassist Andrew Lacour, who joined a year prior to work alongside Vocalist Mike Paparo, Drummer T.J.
So who are Inter Arma? Assembled in 2006, 4 grueling years passed until the band released its debut LP, Sundown, but the lost time was quickly erased by the breakneck pace at which the next 3 followed: Sky Burial in 2013, Paradise Gallows in 2016, and now Sulphur English. Luckily, such is not the case with Inter Arma, the Richmond, Virginia quintet whose fourth album, Sulphur English, is due for release Friday, April 12th through Relapse Records. As a general rule, the more genres a band is purported to cover, the less enjoyable the overall product can be.
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