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Kalaratri
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Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:22 pm
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 12:38 pm 
 

US extreme metal formation Inter Arma will release their sixth full length, New Heaven, on April 26 through Relapse Records. From the press release:

Quote:
New Heaven, INTER ARMA’s latest album, is a compelling testament to perseverance, top to bottom. Its thicket of ever-dense layers of doom, death, and black metal occasionally let bits of light slip in, fleeting reminders to keep going amid the tumult.

New Heaven marks a sharp turn for the band, showcasing some of the most extreme and angular songwriting INTER ARMA has ever laid bare. Known for their cinematic take on sludgy, extremely cavernous, and borderline psychedelic Metal, the Richmond band broadens their dynamics by seesawing between piledriving momentum and swirling oblivion. New Heaven crushers and conquers, and illustrates what INTER ARMA can truly be.

Take the title track, with its hair-raising lead riff stemming from drummer/songwriter TJ Childers’ challenge to himself to write a nonsensically dissonant part that he ended up loving. The song spirals upward into a punishing Death-Metal march, Meanwhile, vocalist Mike Paparo’s stentorian bellows the bludgeon, above an impossibly complicated web of riffs and rhythms. From the get go, New Heaven and the opening title track eschews any restraint - INTER ARMA is completely unchained.

Paparo’s keen and empathetic lyrics about innocent victims of war, addiction, and social apathy affirm that feeling, as a survivor grimaces at the carnage behind him and presses ahead best he can. “You stared into the brutish jaws of strife’s heartless device,” he growls into a chthonic blitz during “The Children the Bombs Overlooked,” a late-album powerhouse. “And you turned your back to hell.” That forward march out of madness is New Heaven in an armor-plated nutshell.

Though this is indeed another INTER ARMA triumph, it is not a triumphant album, meant to offer some glib or naïve assurance that everything will be fine.

What evidence is there for that, really, either on a record where friends are forced into submission, addiction, suicide, or retreat to a world where suffering remains the lingua franca? No, INTER ARMA and New Heaven are too realistic and experienced for that. This is, instead, a record about enduring brambles and curses and lasting long enough to make something profound, honest, and even affirming about it all every now and again—exactly as INTER ARMA has on New Heaven.


Image

Tracklisting:
1. New Heaven
2. Violet Seizures
3. Desolation's Harp
4. Endless Grey
5. Gardens in the Dark
6. The Children the Bombs Overlooked
7. Concrete Cliffs
8. Forest Service Road Blues

The title track has been released as the first single:
Spoiler: show


It'll be interesting to hear what they've cooked up this time. Inter Arma is a band that's never been afraid of experimenting from album to album, while this song may or may not be representative of the whole record it seems there may very well be an increased emphasis on dissonance.

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FLIPPITYFLOOP
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Joined: Thu Aug 12, 2010 9:09 pm
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Location: CHRAWNA, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 2:51 pm 
 

OH FUCK YEAH I'm stoked. Inter Arma rules, so great to see them back. I caught them live in Toronto last year and they stole the show for me, better than both End and Full Of Hell (even though FOH was still great).

Definitely amping up the dissonance and eeriness with this, probably taking some inspiration from when they toured with Thantifaxath a few years back. Though still sounds unmistakably like them. They have a super unique vibe amongst other bands in the post metal/sludge/doom camp.

This band is still moving mountains with every track. If the rest of the album is like this it'll 100% end up in my top 10 list.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 3:39 pm 
 

This is the first Inter Arma I have not been excited for; Imperial Triumphant worship is quite an unwelcome change. While I appreciate bands that experiment and change, I find this style of pulverizing dissonance completely unlistenable.

They also usually have the best album art in the game. This looks like an indie rock band that hired their friend to take an "artsy" photo.
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Frank Booth
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Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2012 9:29 pm
Posts: 1515
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue Feb 27, 2024 7:07 pm 
 

narsilianshard wrote:
This is the first Inter Arma I have not been excited for; Imperial Triumphant worship is quite an unwelcome change. While I appreciate bands that experiment and change, I find this style of pulverizing dissonance completely unlistenable.

They also usually have the best album art in the game. This looks like an indie rock band that hired their friend to take an "artsy" photo.


This is Inter Arma we're talking about, it's not like this is necessarily representative of the entire album. They've always been a band that does whatever they feel like doing.

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Metal_On_The_Ascendant
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2024 2:33 pm 
 

I like the vibes that single was pushing out and I've missed these guys. Consider me psyched.
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Runko
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Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:38 pm
Posts: 665
PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2024 2:55 pm 
 

Frank Booth wrote:
This is Inter Arma we're talking about, it's not like this is necessarily representative of the entire album.


I hope so, I'm really missing the sludge on this.

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thatoneguy2440
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:46 pm
Posts: 2
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:47 pm 
 

I don't mind the lack of sludge, but this new single is underwhelming. Also, the lack of 10+ minute songs on this... kinda lame.

Still excited for the new album tho

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MikeyC
Official Greeter of Broken Hills

Joined: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:16 am
Posts: 14211
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 5:37 am 
 

This song definitely sounds different to what I know of Inter Arma. That said, I'm liking how it sounds. I like experimental stuff so this is right up my alley. Who knows how the album as a whole will sound, but it's a good start.
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thatoneguy2440
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Joined: Fri Mar 08, 2024 6:46 pm
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Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:09 pm 
 

Metal_On_The_Ascendant wrote:
I like the vibes that single was pushing out and I've missed these guys. Consider me psyched.


Idk for me its mainly the lack of 10+ min songs on the track list, I've missed these guys as well but I do prefer their sludgier/doomier sound as opposed to this... I'm just kinda mixed on this new single rn

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Kalaratri
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Joined: Wed Aug 05, 2020 3:22 pm
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:10 am 
 

Here's the second single:



This is the complete opposite of the previous single, way more doom focused and melodic.

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