Band – Inexorum
Album – Moonlit Navigation
Country of Origin – USA
Genre – Black Metal
Release Date – June 26, 2020
Label – Gilead Media
Author – Michael Litteral
I’m going to go ahead and say it from the get go. This album is fantastic. Inexorum is a melodic black/death metal project from Minneapolis, Minnesota. This fantastic duo has only been a band for two years according to Metallum, but both members have been a part of a different project since 2013. This makes perfect sense because the chemistry between the two musicians is undeniable. Carl Skildum comes in hot with his contributions of vocals, guitars, keys, midi and acoustic drums. With Matthew Kirkwold stitching it all together with his bass, clean vocals, and keys as well.
Moonlit Navigation shoots you off to your midnight mission right away on the opening track, “Ouroboric State”. Soaring high and majestically with the dueling guitars that race through the clouds, it’s something that starts off wailing and sets the bar high for the rest of the album. But does it keep up throughout their sophomore release? Of course it does! The first thing I said in this review is that this album is fantastic, and I mean that in all categories. The guitar work on this album is face melting, but in a pleasant clean way. Shreds McGee is taking notes as he listens to the melodies and composition on this record. With an album that is so saturated in guitars, you can correctly guess that we’re going to hear acoustic passages, long solos, memorable riffs and anything in between. The bass guitar is audible, the tones and tunes coasts and glides, and it gives the release a more full, and more complete sound.The bass guitar is an extremely important element in music, and I feel Matthew understand that he can be the locomotive engine that is driving the melody from the core and capitalizes on it. Now as the bass can be the muscle behind the melody, the muscle behind the rhythm must be the drums. The drum work dashes through this release like lightning in the night. It has an insanely tight sound and execution. It brings anything you’d expect from a metal release. And with saying that, I want to emphasize that yes, this album is categorized as melodic black metal, but this is a straightforward METAL album at the end of the day. The Moonlit Navigation brought this album to it’s peak and has definitely shown us that Inexorum needs to be talked about when wrapping up this rollercoaster of a year we call 2020.
Moonlit Navigation was released on June 26th, 2020 through Gilead Media. This release is available digitally, CD, and Vinyl. And might I add that the colored variants are absolutely gorgeous in person. Aesthetically speaking, this album is top notch as well in that regard.
Biography: Michael Litteral is just your friendly neighborhood metalhead who can’t seem to find his way out of the black and he’s just fine with that.
