Every so often we find ourselves before a performance that we just did not expect whatsoever. Typically, those experiences take me into some vague corner of the metal underground where I am confronted with a band that either does things exceedingly well, immeasurably different, or both. However, it’s relatively often that I find myself bewildered outside the boundaries of metal with psychedelic rock a consistent hearth that I find quite comforting. Even then, however, it’s sometimes outside even those boundaries that I’m given a work that catches my imagination and manages to deliver something that I just could not have anticipated. With their debut effort, In Covert does just that.

What’s to be found within these twelve tracks is an absolute laundry list of intricacies that all play off each other magnificently. Pulling from many different corners of rock music from post, gothic, and punk rock, it’s even then that I find myself staring the down the barrel influences from the worlds of industrial and doom that could have effortlessly made for an untamable blend that an aspiring band simply could not handle given all that is going on at one time. And yet, it’s throughout the absolute entirety of “Bleak Machinery” that In Covert does far more than just steer this sound in a favorable direction. Rather, they give us a magnificent display of what this sound can be with real vision and tenacity to make sure that this isn’t just a collection of tracks but an experience. The silhouettes of society fling past us as the rhythms and riffs of “Bleak Machinery” propel us into an exhilarating experience that holds nothing back with In Covert even managing to make time to tackle the nasty underbelly of society that we all like to pretend isn’t there with every given facet of this creation offering us a new glimpse into the sprawling concrete jungles that cling so desperately to. Industrial in its darkest moments and invoking freedom through anarchy in its highs, “Bleak Machinery” has so much going for it. Virtually everything about this record is given a meticulous treatment and adoration in order for each track to be given real life and a vibrant heartbeat that permeates the whole of the album, and just the fact that this is the debut work from In Covert makes this overall sight something that I still find myself having trouble grappling with. It’s darkly enchanting. It’s raw. It’s evocative. It’s from the deepest, most frustrated pits of the human soul. It’s catharsis and bliss mixed into a single package whose weight is not to be underestimated.

Even after losing myself in these dark soundscapes for hours on end, I still cannot help but find myself enamored with what has been accomplished here. A magnificent blend of so many different factors that make for a freeing concoction that this corner of rock music can never crank out enough of, In Covert makes a real splash with what’s only their debut. For all that’s offered within this sprawling effort, “Bleak Machinery” is more than willing to show us its secrets should you ask, you need only to take the hand of In Covert and witness everything that they have to offer from its brightest highs to its darkest lows.

“Bleak Machinery” releases on May 9th via Dune Altar!

LISTEN to In Covert on Bandcamp here.

FOLLOW In Covert on Instagram here.