Like a beast ripping itself from the infernal depths below, Inferi have made their fiery presence known once again. They’re a dominant force within the landscape currently crossing Technical and Melodic Death Metal music. Hailing from the music capitol of America – Nashville, Tennessee – they’re pulling all the strings in their power to leave a mark on the modern metal landscape and… so far, so good.
All of this and more shows through their landmark, new album by the name of “Revenant”. This was just released in conjunction with the good people over at the The Artisan Era. That being the case, the LP is currently available on most all major online music platforms. You can also stream in full, buy, and grab merch over on Bandcamp where it’s currently dominating the charts among great company! Give a listen to the opening track and other goods below and you’ll likely see why!
Speaking of which… The album opens with the strike of lightning and an ominous music passage. This is some foreshadowing for just how screwed your ears are heading into this album (I mean that in a good way, of course). Then it happens! The instrumental corps rips in without a shred of mercy to their abundance of shred. It’s safe to say this album has a very strong, thematically placed beginning. It kind of sounds how the album cover itself looks like which is always an endearing quality.
That opener “Within the Dead Horizon” is a great welcoming into what to expect from the rest of this record… sans the unexpected explosions of awesome later on. In other words, it’s a great appetizer before gorging on the rest of this particular 9 course meal. Other tracks such as “Through The Depths”, “Behold the Bearer of Light”, “A Beckoning Thrall”, and “Thy Menacing Gaze” are sure to leave a mark. Hell, they’ll probably all leave boot prints from the constant kicks to the chest.
This is a very rich album on a number of fronts. It strikes at the heart of the more extreme end found in the world of modern Technical / Melodic Death Metal and turns things up to notch 11 in the process. It’s an extremely satisfying listening experience for a myriad of reasons from its fearless approach to the uncontainable talents held within.
The band is comprised of five members forming an absolutely unstoppable death unit. They are the twisted talents of Malcolm Pugh and Mike Low with constant face melting riffage on guitar, Joel Schwallier rising up to match with plenty of standout bass playing, the pummeler of ear drums and master of the skins Spencer Moore, and the demonic windpipe fronting the band, Sam Schneider. Very well done, ya’ll. Very well done.
Inferi remind me a bit of a number of greats within this subset of extreme music. For example, they have a bit in common with The Black Dahlia Murder who’s vocalist Trevor Strnad actually has a cameo on the track / album single “Behold the Bearer of Light”. Incidentally, another similar band is Arsis whose James Malone, likewise, shares a solo on the track “Through The Depths”. These comparisons aren’t a bad thing at all because the band also has plenty of flair to call their own throughout this exhibition. They may easily count themselves among the leading edge of this movement.
I don’t have any real criticisms of this album to share. If anything, some of the symphonic sections could have struck me as more convincing in that they’re obviously digital instruments at play but the composition is just A+ so who really cares? Other than that, objectively speaking, this album will probably scare my dog. My dog is in for a long couple weeks…
Clarity wise, this album is very sharp and comes across crystal for the most part. There’s some smudge here and there but nothing to actually muddy up or affect the overall listening experience.
As if it weren’t abundantly obvious from the radiation tinged glow of this review, I was very impressed by the work Inferi put in for this outing. As such, my gut was hovering around the upper echelons of 10 for the majority of my listens. As such, when the dust clears, this one definitely deserves a 9. It currently stands among my favorite releases of these sub-genres for 2018 and will likely remain as such when December rears its ugly head.
Once again, the album is available for streaming and purchase through most major online music platforms. Go forth and experience this beast for your own damn self! The easiest locale is likely Bandcamp but feel free to venture ’round to your preference. You can also follow along with the band directly on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
In other Inferi related news, the band is scheduled to head on tour with Rivers of Nihil and Alterbeast this summer for quite the set of extreme metal exhibitions. You can sort out all the dates for that and find which suits your locale best by CLICKING HERE. On an entirely different front, the band’s vocalist recently launched a rather entertaining rendition of the Dr. Dre + Eminem classic “Forgot About Dre” by adding a little SLAM! You can give that a listen by CLICKING HERE.
Don’t act like you forgot about Inferi either!
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