Seven Impale – Contrapasso

Label: Karisma Records; Release: 16/09/2016

Progressive jazzrock from the Norwegian six-piece, this being their second full-length album and what an album it is. Opening with heavy prog chords and droning vocals it’s an album which draws in the listener with its intensity. The second track starts with a very Mars Volta moment and then descends into some dirty jazz basement full of wonders, saxophone and haunting minimalism, and then it’s back, full pace and incredible depth of sound.

This band aren’t afraid to use sounds that are “out of their genre” either. A good example is the opening of Helix, an almost cheesy keyboard intro which you might expect in a bad dance tune, but used here to great effect. This album should be in everyone’s life!

Standout track: Convulsion takes this album from being really good to being other worldly. Pacey, fiery and sometime difficult to listen to, this track brings everything to the table and almost hits the intensity of the finest metal tracks despite not even being in the right genre.

Listen here

Track listing:
1. Lemma
2. Heresy
3. Inertia
4. Languor
5. Ascension
6. Convulsion
7. Helix
8. Serpentstone
9. Phoenix