Published: May 26, 2023

The four-piece heavy music band Inherus is hard to describe with a single tag. I like doom so I would call them doom, but they aren’t doom in a traditional sense. There are progressive elements in the music, but I wouldn’t call them a prog band. I used the “post-metal” label in the slug line, but I am not even sure what that is. How about this: Inherus combine elements that, on paper, might not seem to go together very well, and yet they achieve amazing results that I haven’t heard before in any other place. The band is Anthony DiBlasi (bass, vocals), Beth Gladding (vocals, guitar, synth, mandolin), Brian Harrigan (vocals, guitar, synth), and Andrew Vogt (drums).

“Forgotten Kingdom” starts with a shout and a pounding, and we’re off on this six-song set. Chunky guitar riffing and gruff, menacing vocals work their way around obstacles on the way to you. All the songs on this album are long (except one), so they all have multiple movements and tempo changes. The first slow down offers quiet, clear vocals as a beautiful but perhaps deadly respite. And then the music slowly builds back to its origin level. “One More Fire” starts out in the gentle posture, and overall has a sort of long ballad feel to it, with very little singing, comparatively. “The Dagger” paces itself, striding cautiously at first. The music is mysterious, both in its loud and quiet forms. There is dark magic here, and perhaps beasts lurking in the night and in the depths.

Side two gives us “Oh Brother” and some of the harshest constructions on the album. The middle third is extirpating. “Obliterated in the Face of Gods” is a two-minute song, the odd one out. It is primarily created sounds that set up the last gasp, “Lie to the Angels.” The jump this time is surprisingly chipper, although it does not stay that way for long. There is a kind of prog sense toying with this composition, trying to make headway among the harsh, aggressive voice and the clear, spellcasting singing. It is a heady deployment. This music will stay in your head for a long time after you walk away. Recommended.