Primitive Man – Insurmountable (Review)

The appeal of bands like Primitive Man is hard to describe. Listening to their discography up to this point you won’t find a definitive single which can lure “normal” listeners to this band (although I would take Immersion as a great starting point): they are slow, abrasive and there is nothing to hum along to. This is music for staring into the inner void.

The opener “This Life” is as Primitive Man as it can get. 12,5 minute of really heavy Sludge Metal and pure negativity. The same fits for the single released prior to this release “Cage Intimacy“. There is no other band at the moment that reaches this level of intensity and bleakness. While listening to this music you just spiral down and when you reach the bottom, Primitive Man mangle you even further into the ground.

Sandwiched between those two tracks is the ambient piece “Boiled“. “Boiled” excels in creating a haunting atmosphere. This is what it sounds like being on your own in an abandoned industrial building, knowing your are not alone…in a bad way.

A track I was really looking forward to was the cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song “Quiet“. It may sound odd but Primitive Man and Smashing Pumpkins are alike in the aspect that noise plays an important role in their music (just listen to the end of “X.Y.U.” and you will know what I mean).

“Quiet” by Primitive Man is a whole different monster now. If no one told me that this was a cover, I would not have noticed it. Primitive Man took that song and made it their own which is a great achievement and ultimate goal for cover-versions, everything else is just Karaoke. The only thing that is recognizable from the original are the guitar sounds at the first seconds.

Insurmountable is yet another great entry in the work of Primitive Man. Insurmountable fortifies the special place Primitive Man have in the realm of Metal. As mentioned before, this is like listening to a black hole. While you may not understand how it works and why it exists you are still pulled towards it and ultimately get lost and crushed in it.