Review: Suffering Hour – Impelling Rebirth

Band: Suffering Hour
Album: Impelling Rebirth
Genre: Black Metal
Country: United States of America
Label: Profound Lore Records
Released: October 3rd, 2025

Introduction

Over the past 7 or so years, Profound Lore Records has built a reputation as one of the most trusted and high-esteem indie labels, not only in metal, but under the larger noise and drone umbrella too, with critically acclaimed albums like Lingua Ignota’s Caligula and Bell Witches’ Mirror Reaper under their repertoire. One of the most promising younger acts on the label is Suffering Hour, whose last album, The Cyclic Reckoning from 2021, is one of the best black metal albums of the decade. With that background, the expectations for their next album are quite high, which feels almost atypical in current-day black metal.

Impelling Rebirth

And so here, after a four-year wait, is Impelling Rebirth… Which is a 15-minute EP. It’s a curious release, as the music here is definitely album-quality and I think album-worthy. Considering Suffering Hour’s past albums haven’t been too indulgent with their length, it wouldn’t have taken much to turn this into a full-length album. But it is what it is, and I have to review it for what it is. Impelling Rebirth contains five songs with the band’s signature dissonant black metal sound and cavernous yet icy production. Though the band gets lumped into the – at this point cliché – avant-garde/dissonant metal group, I find that Suffering Hour’s songs are driven more by a neoclassical sense of melodicism, which helps their music be actually memorable. However, they are able to write their melodies without relying on conventional scales, which demonstrates their musical proficiency, while giving the songs an uncanny yet adventurous feel.

Impelling Rebirth departs from Suffering Hour’s past disso-black work with its notable tech-thrash influences. The album is almost absent of black metal riffs and instead relies heavily on palm-muted chugs and punky open chords (Anamnesis and Incessant Dissent sound like they came straight from a Voivod album). This switch in style isn’t that surprising when you consider the band’s origins: Suffering Hour started as a tech-thrash band named Compassion Dies, and the name Suffering Hour even comes from an Anacrusis album. Impelling Rebirth executes the switch confidently. The songs are engaging with their linear structures, heavy riffage and uncontained energy. It feels like the EP format allows the band to have more fun and make songs that don’t maybe connect stylistically but are enjoyable on their own. Still, I’m waiting for that next full-length, as this band clearly has a lot of gas left in their tank.

Conclusion

One has to speculate on the purpose of this EP release, as it isn’t quite the epic comeback that many fans were maybe looking forward to after four long years. Is it the label testing the waters for demand for new music? Is it a compilation of throwaways that didn’t fit the band’s upcoming album? Is it the band exploring a new sound before fully committing to it? The title implies it’s a rebirth.

Well, whatever it is, it kicks ass.

BMZ rating: 9 out of 10

Support Suffering Hour here: https://sufferinghour.bandcamp.com/album/impelling-rebirth

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