This is the third album from US blackened extreme metallers Immortal Bird.
It’s been a long time since 2019’s Thrive on Neglect and an even longer time since 2015’s Empress/Abscess, (a standout release of that year), so it’s a real treat to have Immortal Bird back with us.
Sin Querencia contains 36 minutes of new material. The songs are, on average, shorter than on Immortal Bird’s previous albums, with the band focusing their art on impact, rather than content for the sake of it. This approach has paid off handsomely.
Immortal Bird have always played a hybrid style that incorporates elements of different genres, but on Sin Querencia this is true more than ever. Mixing together black metal, death metal, sludge, crust, hardcore, and grindcore, in various amounts, this is a tasty treat of aggression for fans of modern extremity.
Through an expressive combination of brutality and intricacy, Immortal Bird spread their multifaceted wings and soar. The music has depth and substance, while also boasting hooks that ensnare fast. The songs wield emotion and atmosphere like weapons, alongside more direct examples of the aggressive arts, such as furious blackened groove, serrated riffs, harsh acidic screams, and punishing percussive weight. There is even a dissonant edge to parts of this that embody the darkness that sits at the heart of Immortal Bird.
These songs really are some of the band’s best, and showcase a band increasingly aware of their skills and abilities. They are heavy and aggressive and all that good stuff, but importantly they have a solid foundation that’s crafted from pure hope-deprived feeling, and this supports pretty much everything else that’s built upon this firm base.
Immortal Bird sound confident and assured on this new record. The songwriting is strong, as are the band’s performances and the record’s production values. The singer’s voice sounds better than ever too, and more diverse in delivery. The screams are more venomous, and the roars more monstrous. There are even some infrequent well-placed cleans that are affectingly delivered.
Well then. Immortal Bird have both refined and expanded their extreme metal template to deliver unto us unworthy mortals their best platter of heaviness yet. Their discography is an exemplar of quality over quantity, and Sin Querencia sits at the height of their art thus far, dominating with an iron claw.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 