Canadian death/grinders Nervous Impulse are back with their second album, Time to Panic. An album of intense proportions, it’s clear why they decided to go with Time to Panic as their album title. Those checking this one out should be ready for an frenetic ride.
After a brief intro clip, Nervous Impulse really give you no chance to catch your breath. A grinding death combination that seems to channel the best parts of Cryptopsy and Dying Fetus, it’s safe to say that you will be both technically-wowed as well as pummeled. A slick sound compliments the bands approach, but avoids being too squeaky clean for death metal. The modern undertone does pair nicely with the furious approach, though some may be scared off by the very slight notion of deathcore. Nervous Impulse’s strongest feature is their ability to go from top speed and crazy blast beats to groove within a split second (see “Syrian NATO Meat Grinder”) and make it work completely. Just when you begin to get dizzy with technical flourish, they toss things into groove territory and give your neck muscles a work out. The dynamics keep things moving briskly, though the tracks never really stretch much past the 3-minute mark to begin with. Some special attention should also be paid to vocalist Eric Fiset, who really drives home quite a range of psychotic noises, going from gurgles to screams, and hitting just about everything in between.
Time to Panic should please fans of death/grind that are looking for something more on the destructive side of the menu. While it does fall victim to the genre-pitfall of similar sounding tracks, it does work quite well as a short blast of energy.