Review by Alex on May 5, 2019.

What more can be asked of from a debut EP by a freshly cut band? Pernicion hands you over to their battering sound of indulgence. Impressive is perhaps the most fitting word one can use to describe just how good is Seek What They Sought. Clocking in at just around 28 minutes, the EP walks a steady path of intensity; utilizing a crisp and thunderous sound, its boulders through your speakers mightily. The songs are considerably lengthy, but Pernicion demonstrates an unfettered flow that is handled with meticulous guitar work that beams thick chunks of trance inducing rhythms on Seek What They Sought. And the vocals? Holy shit! sounds like the big bad wolf is outside your premises, huffing and puffing about to blow it the fuck down. 

Opening with an eerie guitar passage “Summoning” indeed gives the listener the impression something dire is being conjured; you feel the quake of the bass and the vocal tones ripple through the speakers with sheer density. This never lets up, even without the blast beats the effect can still be felt with just as much potency as with a faster rate of playing. Thus said, it's not all speed in the drumming and riffing, a tuneful angle is used in supplying the music with a much-needed rhythm that is thoroughly showcased. This says a great deal about Pernicion’s songwriting, they understand that an incentive must be given in order to fully beguile the listener/s. The one thing that does remain the same are the vocals that never appear abdicated. 

You’re given tracks such as the previously mentioned “Summoning” and “The Darkness Comes” and immediately you're bedazzled at how rich the atmosphere in which they create is, but you've still yet to bear witness to the final gust of breath being “Tome”. Arguably the best song on Seek What They Sought, delivers the final most impacting puff that shatters the shell of your home. What I admire about “Tome” is it revisits key moments on the record, gathers and rearranges them, then releases the collection as a hulking strike. As most of the album sits within the realm of mid-paced - speedy guitar and drum work, those deep inscriptions of rhythm squeeze and extract the full potential of the music, thus stirring and distributing vivid layers of harmony. For a record such as this, “Tome has the perfect closing, it’s so eerie, as if it had told a story; however, instead of coming to a settled understandable conclusion, it further mystifies the contents of the scenario. 

Can’t recall how many times I have listened to Seek What They Sought, it’s a record that has been played on multiple occasions; most times consecutively. This pernicious offering will more than suffice the thirst for the avid listener; hence the musicianship is more than competent in portraying what it wishes. Seek What They Sought is one that carries the weight of success, thus putting Pernicion in a position holding them to the responsibility of exceeding it in the future. 

Rating: 8.1 out of 10