Album Reviews : Ignite the Ibex – Ignite the Ibex

One of the first band’s in Australia to really focus on the usage of 8 string guitars, Western Sydney’s Ignite The Ibex self-titled debut has been a long and challenging process for the band, with a huge amount of time dedicated to the tone and sound to create the release’s awesome self-recorded production.

Combining both the groove and chugging of deathcore and the intensity and musicianship of technical death metal, it’s obvious that the five-piece group take huge influence from bands like Ion Dissonance and Meshuggah. The usage of 8 string guitars (tuned to a bowel loosening Drop E) is a pretty fundamental part of Ignite The Ibex’s sound, with every song on the release (minus the interlude track ‘-‘) covered with chugging low registered riffs, from the crushing “Black Circle Pathways” to the blast beat filled “Axiom”.

The only real fault that this release possesses is that the band is willing the throw up the levels of technicality and complexity at the expense of hooks and memorable riffs, and the EP kind of flies by unless you’re really sitting down and paying full attention to it. Fans of the extreme end of the metal spectrum will more than likely wholeheartedly lap the release up, but for those uninitiated with the world of tech-death metal Ignite the Ibex’s self-titled debut might be a bit too much to digest at first, but the world class quality of the final product will surely win over any potential fans if they give it a chance. 7.5/10

Band: Ignite The Ibex
Album: Ignite The Ibex
Year: 2010
Genre: Technical/Progressive Death Metal
Origin: Western Sydney, Australia
Label: Independent
www.myspace.com/ignitetheibex

Track listing:

1. Cold Ruin
2. Axiom
3. Exit The Immaculate
4. Absorbing Free Will
5. –
6. Carbon Lungs Dioxide Tears
7. Black Circle Pathways