INANIMATE EXISTENCE Clockwork

 California based technical death metal trio Inanimate Existence returns with their fifth full-length album in just seven years, set for a May 10th release through The Artisan Era. Even though being one of the most productive bands around right now, these guys have always managed to deliver consistent quality on every album and ‘Clockwork’ is no exception in that respect. According to the band themselves the thematic focus for this new album is dealing with the human tendency to struggle with the acceptance of mortality and our limited time on earth. It explores the questions we torment ourselves with during life along with the irony of how small and insignificant we are in the grand scheme of the universe. The title refers to the mechanisms of a clock and how every tick brings you closer to your doom. The musical formula is pretty much the same as always, and ‘Clockwork’ sounds like a very natural continuation of their 2017 album ‘Underneath A Melting Sky’. You can clearly hear that the guys have invested a lot of time and effort on the material on this album both when it comes to composing, arrangements and recording and it’s probably their most consistent product to date. The performance of each individual member is as always absolutely brilliant, but there are enough examples out there that technical skills alone won’t save you if the song material is shit. But every now and then there are albums where the quality of the song material matches the technicality, and that’s when tech death magic happens. I feel that’s the case with ‘Clockwork’, and even though only time can tell whether or not it has the potential of becoming a genre classic it gives me that feeling of just wanting to push the play button again once the last note of the final track has faded out and that’s always a good sign. Highly recommended!

Discography

Clockwork (2019)

Underneath A Melting Sky (2017)

Calling From A Dream (2016)

A Never-Ending Cycle Of Atonement (2014)

Liberation Through Hearing (2012)