Review by Alex Grindor on March 6, 2023.

Sombre narration and atonal harmonies serve as the foreshadow of the darkness to be unleashed by Inerte. Formed late 2019 by Nico (former founding member of "Sin Cera"), Inerte is Nico's more brutal approach to music, distancing it from his previous band. After a long time, 2023 sees the release of S/C..., its debut EP. With every aspect supervised by Nico, S/C... is a great EP that shows a great deal of experimentation, but does have some unpolished sections.

Opening up with a dark, dreadful narration coupled with dissonance, it slowly builds up to the inevitable maelstrom of black metal that follows. While the music is really agressive in its approach, there is a lot of distinct elements and variety in every track. Guitars clash and mesh at large throughtout the record, with plenty of riffs, harmonies and dissonance without relying entirely on chaotic means. The bass is rich in its sound and its presence is notorious, adding a great punch to
the overall sound while also going on its own at moments. Drums are competent enough but not the most interesting part of the EP, and my gut tells me that these are programmed drums, but I have no issue with that at all. Vocals also feature a wide variety; from dysmal clean vocals to deep growls to Leviathan-esque screams, all in great measure. Nico has taken a lot of time for this and it shows. Music wise, there is something for everyone here, although some vocal approaches are better than others. And I do feel there is an overextension of clean vocals at times.

Production wise, the sound is a bit unpolished but not detrimental to the overall experience. The drums are the least taken care of in this aspect but in general, the entire record has no overproduction. For the style it fits well and, once again, the music is not really affected by it. These rough edges can be polished in future releases but Nico (being in charge of everything) shows that he has the knowledge for the craft.

In around 25 minutes, Inerte shows a lot of potential and I hope he only continues to improve in the future. My only main concern is that maybe there was a bit too much of experimentation in this release and some results may not be to everyone's liking (like 'Hole Is Hell', which starts in a way more reminiscent to dark electronic music), but if time proves me right, Inerte will grasp only the good experiments. This release is available on Inerte's Bandcamp, but lacking 'Hole Is Hell'. However, Nico has announced that March 2023 will see the release of the full EP. So if you like your dark metal with some avant-garde elements, you can always give a chance to this project.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10