Band's List Avantgardiste Black Inquisitor (LTU) The Quantum Theory of Id

Inquisitor is one of the first metal bands that I encounter out of Lithuania, and 2010 sees the band releasing their debut full length album The Quantum Theory of Id 9 years after their formation, marking their experience together as a band. The album title would immediately attract fans of bands that deal with science and all that geeky stuff. Being from a country that is not really known for producing metal makes me all the more interested, curious to see and hear what Inquisitor has to offer.

The spoken vocals on introductory track Infimum sounds almost like the introduction to a documentary, with a tinge of sombreness in the tone of the spoken vocals, and everything one suspects about the themes and concepts underlying The Quantum Theory of Id is proven right as one reads the lyrics to the album. The background noise towards the end of the track transports one into the middle of a sci-fi film, with the futuristic soundscape, before the vocals welcomes you "back to reality", and the album begins proper. As Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis begins, what comes into place of the quiet introductory track is aggressive black metal, with riffs that blend influences from Norwegian black metal with more aggressive chugging sections. Vocalist Lord's style leans more towards a death metal growl/howl, like a more high-pitched version of Hail of Bullets' Martin Van Drunen. Each of the instrumentalists in the band, right from guitarists Nyko and Skol to drummer GarLoq are extremely capable on their instruments, easily switching between different styles as and when needed yet sounding extremely natural throughout, and the band's tightness is easily heard with moments like on the intro of The End of Certainty; Supremum.

As per its avant-garde and progressive musical theme, there are a number of non-conventional black metal instrumentation, such as the high mix of a piano that runs consistently throughout the song, and at times even being the driving force behind the music with the melodies that are played. Such moments where the keyboards take command also bring out the emotional aspect of the music, enhancing the atmosphere and at times even providing an almost dramatic effect in the music and displays the band's classical music influences, like on Die Welt Als Wille Und Vorstellung. The progressive elements also shine when the individual instruments sound almost out of pace with each other, with each doing their own stuff and playing in their own rhythm, yet together they sound coherent as a unit. The last part of Die Welt Als Wille Und Vorstellung even almost reminds listeners of what bands like Dream Theater would have written. The band also constantly shifts between different styles, at times going at a full on a black/death metal section before suddenly switching to a quiet moment, then some progressive sections with odd time signatures and high technicality on all instruments.

Song-writing wise, each of the tracks (other than the introductory track) run for more than 9 minutes each, with each telling a story and each containing 3 parts to them and these 3 parts on the song are easily differentiated from each other, with the transition between one part to the next marked by a change in musical style as well. The lyrics on the album would also fulfill the interests of geeks, with tracks like Principia Mathematica Philosophiae Naturalis containing lyrics written in the format of what looks like programming codes, providing some quirky and interesting moments on the album.