All the Reviews for "The Oncoming Swarm"

Rock Serbia Review:

"'The Oncoming Swarm' album of band Imbroglio is another title from "The Path Less Traveled Records" catalogue. A band works as a quartet, and originated in Dayton, OH in February of 2007 year.

Imbroglio's musical offering is interesting and unusual combination of metal, fullfield with alter/experimental elements. Swirling riffs, electro loops, industrial atmospheric conception with addition of screaming vocalizations, characterize most of album materials. There are 8 tracks on album, and different atmosphere dominates through different parts of present tracks.

Imbroglio has offered prety inventive authors vision, and mentioned element surelly eleminetes some less interesting moments."

Rating : 7/10

-Written by Branimir Lokner
Wednesday January, 21st 2009
http://www.rockserbia.net

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Decibel Magazine Review:

"It’s actually pretty simple. This rules. I worry about using the term “atmospheric” when describing The Oncoming Swarm because then you’re going to think it’s some Red Sparowes rip-off bullshit with 15 minutes of post-rock reverb guitar. I assure you, that isn’t the case. But the one thing Imbroglio do that makes them so brilliant is balance an overwhelming feeling of dread with their disgusting sludge-grind.

The band spends most of this too-brief record finding the most painful ways to fuse corrosively lumbering riffs with firebombing Dresden-type blasts. And if that isn’t enough, they flawlessly incorporate noise-rock elements, as well as a couple of NYDM parts. But there’s also an undercurrent of grisly ambience. They always keep it in check (save a couple of segues), and it helps put the record into its own category. Think Swans replacing their redundancy with Today Is the Day abrasion and you’re getting close.

The only problem I have with the record is that they no longer have their singer. That really, really sucks. William Fecke sounds like the older brother of Pig Destroyer’s J.R. Hayes, with a deeper shriek that very well may carve a pentagram into your chest. It’s going to be a fucking task to find this guy’s equal.

But regardless of their future, Imbroglio have shown that it’s possible to write epic songs that don’t stretch into boring, pretentious hippie jams. If this is The Oncoming Swarm, I can’t wait until it gets here."

Rating: 9/10

-Written by Shane Mehling
DECIBEL MAGAZINE
APR 2009 / No. 054
http://www.decibelmagazine.com

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Invisible Oranges Review:

Most records sound like records. They have intros, songs, interludes, and so on. Imbroglio's debut, The Oncoming Swarm (The Path Less Travled, 2009), has such ingredients. But it's not really a record so much as the sound of a bad day. Normally, this is not a good thing. I do not like hearing friends complain about bad days. Then again, my friends don't come down-tuned with blastbeats. Sorry, friends. Sometimes records are better than people.

If I had produced this one, it would have been diminished. I would have deleted its intro, two interludes, and noise outro. It would have been a 17-minute EP, not a 32-minute something-between-an-EP-and-LP. I generally hate intros and interludes, but these work. The industrial ambience and nude clean tones ooze anxiety. I would have made just Side A of My War. Imbroglio adds Side B.

This lends depth to a normally shallow sound - abrasive, angular hardcore with metal leanings. Imbroglio is one of the angriest bands I've ever heard, along the lines of Gaza and early Ion Dissonance. (This is unsurprising given band members' connections to Architect, another angry outfit.) Shuddering accents buffet high and low end scrapings. The vocals could strip paint. Hovering above is a black cloud. The interludes are deceptive breathers. They're suckers' rallies, upticks in Sisyphean days. Life only lets you get back up so it can beat you down again. The beating never felt so good.

-Written by Cosmo Lee
Tuesday April, 07th 2009
http://www.invisibleoranges.com

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Graze Concerns Ezine Review:

I get this message from Imbroglio telling me to contact their label "A Path Less Traveled" to obtain a copy of their cd so I can review it. Man am I glad I did. This is one of the best American Grind/Sludge albums I have heard in while...Imbroglio is a 4 piece outfit, originally hailing from Dayton, Ohio... these guys decided to pack it up and move to Syracuse, New York for a bit of a change of pace. This is their debut album, and what a fucking good job they did...The sound quality is perfect, especially for an independent release. The sounds are a pummeling mix of Sludge, Grindcore, Noise Rock, NYDM, Atmospheric, and even a little Spoken Word! The instruments used on this recording include guitars, electronics, drums, bass, and vocals. The album art is great, including dark imagery of a butterfly's skeletal remains, broken TV sets, weird bugs and what I think are prosthetic arms. There are nine songs on this devastating disc, and everyone fucking kills.... My favorite tracks include "Imperial Swarm", "Suicide Pact", "Upside Down Diamond", "Peachgrove Whore", and "Excavating The...Killing Fields". I highly recommend this band, and I cant wait to see what they are coming out with next. An extensive tour, a new E.P., and a new full length in 2009. Awesome. I hope they come play in Michigan! So DECIBAL MAGAZINE gave this album a 9/10...I have to agree, but I give it 10/10...Go find this album now, Grind enthusiasts!

-Written by Jay Watson
Sunday April, 26th 2009
http://www.graveconcernsezine.com

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Deaf Sparrow Review:

What a record! I was beaten, pummeled, kicked, spat on and then thrown out and left out in the apocalyptic landscape as bloody meat to the vultures. Yes, The Oncoming Swarm is that kind of record; it takes you by surprise and by the time you’ve noticed you are only seconds away from near death. Now that I am in intensive care I only have one question, have I become a masochist? Because, I’ve had this EP set on repeat for the past three hours and to paraphrase, Dave Gahan, 'I just can’t get enough'.

The Oncoming Swarm reminds me of Gaza’s awesome I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die. Whatever happened to that band? Anyway, like it, this recording is an apocalyptic mess of uber mayhemic proportions. This has got to be post-something. Post metal, post noise, post grind, post awesome-that’s like awesome but a bit more than that.

What it’s best about The Oncoming Swarm is that it is abstract, totally amorphous and very radical. This is like shapeless metal, where the concept of a riff has been taken out of context, and the purpose of having a voice has been blown out of proportions. Here, the ugliness of grind collides with the angularity of noise rock, then rapes it and eats it for brunch.

Witness the “Imperial Swarm”, strange shit is coming. Enter distortion, screaming guitars that smear thousands of dead insects all over your windshield. What follows is the crash, 32-minutes of pure impact, gruesome violence by way of your ear canals.

To make The Oncoming Swarm a more compelling experience, the songs are linked by noise, or ‘swarms of insects’ which bring about a nasty viscous ambience to this album. And there is almost a beat to the 1,000 lashes that is “Butterfly Children”, but like everything this Syracuse band seems to do, the song is broken down by what could be music haters. Impressive. Musicians from all extreme genres could hate a hint, learn a lesson and stop behaving like bitches. Let’s just hope some metalcore fools don’t try to hijack Imbroglio away…

Rating: 4/5

Written by Deaf Sparrow
Sunday August 11th, 2009
http://www.deafsparrow.com