Imperishable - Swallowing the World

Swallow deez worlds.

(Originally published to the Metal Archives on April 24 2025)  

It’s been almost a year since I last wrote anything for the Archives, but if there was anything that’d get me back in the saddle, it’d be writing about a band I’ve a soft spot for. I’ve had the pleasure of keeping up with Imperishable since their Deathspawn EP back in 2021, and at the time I was all-in on my “Stockholm Syndrome” phase, where if you passed me anything that sounded like it used the Boss HM-2 pedal I’d probably enjoy it. It’s been a good while since then, and in the time between then and now I got to see the band put out their debut, Come, Sweet Death, which I enjoyed and was also fashionably late in writing a review about. Since then, I’ve gone on yet another break from writing, and in that time decided to explore other styles of music and broaden my horizons a little. Upon hearing that the band was coming back with their sophomore release, Swallowing the World, I was already curious to see how things would go. Did they change as much as I did in that time? Turns out, yes, they did. Whether all the changes that happened were for the better is a different story though.

2 years after the debut, we get to see a different side of the band, one that becomes immediately apparent in our opener, “Bells”. Unlike what they’ve shown us before, Imperishable here opts to set a tone instead of going for our throats, with a flanged bassline, coupled with some floating harmonies, lasting for a grand total of 40 seconds before things are brought up to speed. The ripping tremolo riffs are there, this time with a blackened tinge, as are the cool little melodic licks that the band makes such great use of. It lacks a solo, sure, but it’s so tightly composed that it doesn’t really need one. It’s a great tone setter, providing a glimpse into what is to follow for the most part, as we see an increased interest in melody, coupled with an expanded toolset that goes beyond the overwhelming force of the guitar tone that defined the previous album. There’s far more licks peppered throughout each song, and they all manage to add a little flavour over the album’s 36-minute runtime, decorating some of the more ordinary riffs found here.

With that being said, the absence of said tone is definitely felt, as the production is quite different, owing to the group joining forces with the legendary Andy LaRoque. It’s a great thing to happen to the band in theory, as the man has worked with a lot of extreme metal heavy-hitters and knows his way around a mixing board. In practice though, the production of Swallowing the World, although spotless, lacks intensity and volume. Sure, the mixing is fine, even letting the bass shine with some flourishes on its own on tracks like “Cenotaph of Dreams”, where it slinks alongside a rather crushing breakdown, but it simultaneously lacks the ferocity that makes this strain of Swedeath work. It’s no secret that a lot of bands use the loud and overdriven tones that define the style to mask pedestrian songwriting, but Imperishable weren’t one of those bands, the tone only amplifying their intensity. As it stands, things sound a little hollow, and not in a way that adds to the soundscape of the record.

Engagement is also an issue with some parts of the album, as the aforementioned toolkit is not necessarily always put to good use. The added emphasis on melody and atmospherics has resulted to the tempo going down by a good amount across the board, leading to tepid cuts like “Where No One Survives”, where the verses are comprised of seemingly unending chugging that is only partly saved by some ascending lead lines on the chorus. Sure, it’s got a John Carpenter-sounding synth intro, but what about the riffs?

This extends to “Riding Demons”, which, while moving at a relatively brisk tempo with its trad/thrash gallop, is simply not as harried as it should be, scarcely exciting anything beyond a light toe tap. Even then, moments like the little snaking lead line at the bridge and the acoustic guitar and bass outro manage to stand out, simply because they’re that hooky. Even though those songs sound somewhat anaemic, Imperishable manage to inject a good deal of memorable moments in them, it’s just that due to their pacing, they aren’t elevated to the next level. There’s also the matter of the vocals, which are also impacted by the different approach to the songwriting. As the band’s approach slows down and becomes a little sparse at times, Henke Skoog’s vocals are more exposed in the mix, his hoarse bark sounding a little lost and on occasion, although he does pop off on parts like the ‘burning flesh’ bridge in “Out of the Night”, which manages to hit the mark across the board.

Negative as things might have seemed so far, Imperishable does remember to place their foot firmly on the pedal a lot of the time, their improved songwriting skills being used to put together some ripping melodeath tunes that manage to excite and stick in your head. The opening one-two punch at the start is completed by “Blood to Bleed”, whose jagged riffing and crawling palm-mutes remain dizzying throughout the track, not to mention that devastating double bass part that underscores the solo. It’s Swedeath done right, and had every tune been injected with this much adrenaline we’d be looking at a much more riveting work.

Thankfully, things also end on a high note, as the last leg of Swallowing the World does contain two of its best songs, both of which are prefaced by brief introductory ditties. Both “Cenotaph of Dreams” and the title track fall under the same category as “Blood to Bleed”, where the new additions to the band’s arsenal click together, with the former of the two developing into a wild and flailing mass of riffs and leads over its runtime, especially those blackened tremolo passages which top things off. As for the latter, it fills in the “title track as a closer” role, bringing things back to the beginning in regards to the intensity with which we started, providing us with a thoroughly anthemic chorus that is bound to get stuck in your head after the first listen.

It's tempting to call Swallowing the World a sophomore slump, but that would imply that Imperishable didn’t put in any effort or just stagnated. But the fact is that they did push themselves and tried new things instead of just cranking up the HM-2 knobs to 10 once again and doing exactly what they did last time. It might not have been a total success, but I find it to be far more respectable than just rehashing the same ideas over and over again. Although I must confess, trying new things with the HM-2 cranked to 10 doesn’t sound half bad.

Also, sick Gorguts reference on “The Erosion of Reason”. We do love a good synonym, don’t we folks?

Highlights: Bells, Blood to Bleed, Cenotaph of Dreams, Swallowing the World