Gorguts set out to discard the most abused aesthetic tools in Death metal on their seminal record Obscura, instead of opening up divergent pathways for exploration, the band had established a specific niche and Italian Death metal band Ad Nauseam do operate within these confines but have managed to use the norms established by Gorguts in their own way.
Rather than relegating dissonance to creating riffless atmospheric textures, Ad Nauseam for the most part base their compositions around riffs. While they do have atmospheric passages, they do not linger and serve a distinct purpose to either build tension towards the riffs or as a brief respite that doesn’t betray the oppressive quality of the music.
The guitarists avoid playing in unison and manage to achieve separation by exploring different octaves. Instead of operating independently, the melodies played by each guitar are closely intertwined and form one idea as too much separation would create an incomprehensible cacophony. Though when there is enough space, there are interesting and vastly different variations played that enrich the riffs. The band utilize tempo very effectively and during the slower passages they allow themselves to spread out in different directions before returning together during the faster passages. Throughout the record there are some very well though out classical elements injected into the melodies that break away from the barrage of dissonance and it is unfortunate they don’t appear more often.
Imperative Imperceptible impulse does stretch the definition of what a riff is but it is that ambiguity that makes this such an interesting listen. Ad Nauseam do wear their influences on their sleeves but avoid all the associated pitfalls within this micro-genre to create an album that stands on its own to provide an experience that is more interesting than constant dissonance.
