A potentially successful foray into new musical ground
Although hardly an overly recognised act in the world sense, Belgium technical death metal act In-Quest were certainly starting to make a real name for themselves in the underground circuit in recent years. Their third full length release Epileptic (Their first to be released through Goodlife Recordings in 2004) not only marked the debut of new vocalist Sven De Caluwé (Although their 2003 E.P. Destination: Pyroclasm gave fans of taste of what was to come with De Caluwé out front), but also an awakening in the press in general regarding this relatively unknown, yet remarkable act. But for all the praise lauded upon the band in the last twelve months, it could hold together the line up for long, with De Caluwé deciding to part ways with the band to devote full time to his other projects (Namely Aborted and Leng Tch’e).
Taking over from Caluwé is ex-Blockhead vocalist Mike Löfberg, which has once again meant a change of direction for In-Quest (Who also consist of guitarists Douglas Verhoeven and Jan Geenen, bassist Current line-up Manu Van Tichelen and drummer Gert Monden), with The Comatose Quandaries by far their most ambitious release to date.
Starting out with the usual technical precision that has been a signature sound of their past releases, Diffuse Pattern Recognition is a constantly shifting behemoth of a track that doesn’t so much batter it’s way all the way through, but instead relies upon moments of pure aggression broken up with Meshuggah like guitar atmospherics, obscure spoken word samples and Löfberg’s decipherable growls. And it’s that Meshuggah influence that seems to be the dominating factor within In-Quest’s musical evolution. Songs such as Socioneural Geneticism, Cryotron Frequency and the title track The Comatose Quandary (Featuring guest vocals from Mnemic front man Micheal Bøgballe) are direct evidence that the band has had a huge influence on them in regards to providing moments of off timed grooves and gentle atmospherics (Even if it is only for the smallest of proportions), while Systematic Arhythmetic Hate, the re-recorded Operation; Citadel (The title track of their album from 1999) and Resilient Androtronic Carnage (Which features a little more clean vocals than any of other tracks on the album) tend to lean more towards In-Quest’s sound of before (Plenty of blasting moments, mixed with faster paced riffing and constant changes to break the structures up).
When it comes to progressive death metal, In-Quest are certainly one of the more adventurous and unique sounding, and with The Comatose Quandaries, the band will no doubt attract far more followers to their cause than their previous releases ever did.
(Goodlife Recordings/Dockyard 1 Records/Riot! Distributors)
