UMUR
"Imperivm" is the debut full-length studio album by Spanish, Lugo, Galicia based hardcore/metalcore act Ictus. The album was released in 2007 through various smaller labels. It was recorded and mixed at Sadman Studios in April 2007. Ictus were formed in 2004 and have several minor releases under their belt.
"Imperivm" is a relatively unique release as it only features one single track. The track is 39:00 minutes long though, but this is not your "regular" doom metal monolith or progressive metal epic, which is usually the case with one track albums, but instead the music is a combination of aggressive hardcore and melodeath. This is what it would sound like if you mixed Converge with early In Flames and sprinkled a little Burst over it, and then created an album length track out of the stew.
"Imperivm" is predominantly a fast-paced affair, with frenetic D-beat drumming, fast melodic guitar riffs, and a raw screaming hardcore vocalist in front. Ictus do take the pace down a couple of times during the album´s playing time, and around 16 minutes in there´s even a short atmospheric clean guitar section, and around the 25 minute mark there is a heavy mid-paced section, but the music is generally pretty one-dimensionally fast-paced.
The lack of variation becomes a bit of an issue after a while, and you begin to long for those few and far between heavy or atmospheric sections. When that is said "Imperivm" is a both well played and well produced album, and the overall quality of the songwriting is also of a good quality, so it´s only the lack of variation that´s an issue, and I´m not even sure it would have been much of an issue if the long track had been divided into shorter tracks. It might have been easier to handle then. As it is "Imperivm" is still a rather interesting release, and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.