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Numento describe themselves, at least on their Facebook page, as "Progressive melodic metal with extreme metal influences," and I'm pretty thankful they gave me some kind of label to use, otherwise I'd have a hard time really talking about their second album. The Vile Entity is a harsh, varied album that balances itself between calm, melodic sentiments and blistering, hard-edged extremity that hits you like an iron thunderbolt to the groin. That kind of balancing act risks a loss of focus in the songs, but they're all very carefully structured and written, with every element clearly serving the greater composition outside of "just because," which is a feat considering how layered and intricate the whole thing is. Vocalist Katri Hoivain is particularly impressive in this regard, capable of segueing from smooth, fragile siren songs to sinister, deranged grunt that'd make a Deadite from The Evil Dead piss itself, making them the clear highlight of this album. All that said, I do think the songwriting is a little too dense for its own good. It's tight and focused throughout, but with so much going on and how unfriendly their approach is, I'll admit I can find the whole thing a bit hard to follow even as I am enjoying it.

Really, the barometer of how much you will like this is the grooving "Invisible Fiend," which acts as a sort of culmination of all the band's progressive tendencies and snarling aggression in a compact 4-minute track. Personally, I'd call it a clear highlight that advertises every strength the band has, and the rest of the tracks are littered with those strengths overall, so I'd be comfortable saying that The Vile Entity is well worth getting for any fans of oddball metal that refuses to be labeled as any one genre.