| CD REVIEW Infernaeon |
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Band: Infernaeon Florida-based death troopers Infernaeon return with a new sonic attack, after the 2007-album A Symphony Of Suffering. Frontman Brian Werner recruited some new musicians, amongst whom former Monstrosity-colleague Mike Poggione and Ninety Minute Reflex / The Absence’s Jeramie Kling (who’s not a permanent member anymore). They entered the famous Mana Recording Studios with Brian Elliot (Dawn Of Azazel, Graves Of Valor), who took care of engineering, mix and mastering. The Floridian scene used to be one of the protagonists of the Death Metal explosion more than twenty years ago, and even though the concurrence has grown worldwide throughout the years, this state remained on top of the scene. It was proven by this band before, with that 2007-full length, and Genesis To Nemesis strengthens this setting. …at least when it comes to brutality… I refer to this brutal approach specifically, because of two reasons: the extremity of it, and the comparison to the other details. .) When it comes to the extreme aggression, well, Genesis To Nemesis is a monster, a gargantuan, gigantic and merciless killing beast. But this band isn’t just harsh in its musical approach. The band is rather melodic as well, and pretty varying in tempo and melody, injecting a few subtle keyboard lines (opening track "First Of The Fallen", for example, is an excellent example of this modest yet almost-necessary synth-use). What strikes me is the technical craftsmanship that makes this album both skull-crushing and ingenious at the same time. Yes, the variation did influence this process, evidently. When it comes to those other details, well, it differs from the original Florida-sound, especially the so-called Tampa-one – think Death, Six Feet Under, Morbid Angel, Terrorizer, Cannibal Corpse, Nocturnus etc (the latter, Nocturnus, I do need to mention, because the keyboard-approach might be comparable – just like certain guitar riffs, by the way!). Of course we’re talking about a gap of fifteen-twenty years in between, and indeed, this material has not been produced by one of the Morris- or Burns-brothers. Besides, we’re 2011, so we did evolve, didn’t we (without ignoring the revival of the old school!). But this does not mean that the Floridian scene is of no importance anymore. No, it just ‘expanded’ a lot, and borders have been faded away. And therefore the fact of being from Florida does not necessarily mean that you are a super-band. The album opens with a very chilly and creepy yet mostly interesting neo-symphonic intro ("Into The N.O.X.") and continues with, as mentioned before, rather straight-forward Death Metal with a nice balance between harshness and melody, and the subtle use of atmospheric keyboards. The tempo varies, but never falls in extremes: no permanently-present blasting eruptions, no overload on doomy parts either; just a variety between mid-tempo and energetically fast. The duration of almost one hour is impressing and difficult at the same time. It is a hard time to undergo this album for more than fifty six minutes. No, the variation won’t disappoint, the qualitative characteristics by the members either (going for both song writing and performance) – but one hour of rhythmic, uncompromising and sharp-edged Death Metal is quite a challenge. The album contains a cover track too, Metallica’s "Creeping Death", featuring guest vocals by Gwar frontman Oderus Urungus. It barely is acceptable, it does make me nauseous tout court either… 84/100 Ivan Tibos.
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