Infested Blood - Interplanar Decimation CD

How brutal can the land of big bootys get?  How does a reverse gang bang sound?  You can’t possibly hold back the biological squirming, sack swelling, nut blasting greatness that is Infested Blood.   Krisiun has just taken second place in Brazil’s most brutal contest.  Sounding a bit like Defeated Sanity, Infested Blood bludgeon with the best.  Picture Anderson Silva going muay thai on Rich Franklin’s dome.  The results are like a traffic accident that warrants repeat drive-bys.

From the alien invasion themes to the the inhuman vocals, this is the modern vision of brutal death metal that I enjoy so very fucking deeply.  Cristiano’s vocals are dredged, gurgled, yelled, and what-the-fucked as well as any I’ve heard in genre lately.  The drumming is relentless and captivating.  Beto gives every skin and cymbal a proper beatdown.  The bass and guitar exact their will in a very complementary way, locking into the neck, and then separating the bones of their chosen victim.  This isn’t mid-paced or full of breakdowns, Infested Blood get to the point and hold you their for just under 30 minutes.

Interplanar Decimation is simply sick and dirty.  Although there are ties to Deeds Of Flesh, you won’t get the same level of technicality dropped on Of What’s To Come, or the clinical production.  On Infested Blood’s third full-length, they dish out an engorgement of blasting and devastation only your twisted uncle would understand.  This is what brutal sounds like.  When bands get too wanky with endless arpeggiation and Necrophagist worship, it loses the darkness and evil that brutal death metal should be.  It’s not mindless, it’s not a big boring blur, it’s the real god damn deal.  Has the word “brutal” appeared enough yet?  I couldn’t find a better adjective for these fret grinding instrument abusers from the land of abundant honey-skinned hotties.  Add this disc to your arsenal and pull the trigger on Big Butt Brazilian Orgy while you’re shopping.  Tell them Silky sent you.
 

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The growing abstractification of modern death metal is born from necessity. Smart bands understand that. Any up and coming band who loved Origin’s Antithesis will naturally attempt to outdo or surpass it’s aesthetical qualities. It is not a far off notion to imagine that the majority of future death metal and grind acts will be awash with noise-esque mayhem, where whoever’s static is fastest trumps those cavemen who obsess over bass pedal speed. Smart bands have turned brutality into an art. The recent  public has become open to the existence of metal, even if it is in a greatly convoluted and theatrical form. As shameful as this is to admit, the rise of quality technical death metal acts of late been due to allowing their brutality to become an aesthetical choice over necessity, much like the success of radio friendly acts.

Infested Blood have donated another quality release this year with Interplanar Decimation (BADASS title), not only contributing towards their own catalogue but the tech death cavalcade as well. The quality of this latest (and somewhat unexpected) release easily ranks higher than 2005’s Tribute To Apocalypse. The Brazilian quartet has dropped the gross-out (infamous on previous offerings) and has seemingly jumped on the sci-fi death metal bandwagon common in so many Unique Leader outfits lately. I do have a soft spot for technical compositions with bellowed themes of dimensional collapses, so no complaints here. Regardless of thematic guilty pleasures, I will not pretend the intro to “Unearthly Menace” is not hammy and ridiculous, but to demean that would give unfair judgment towards many like-minded bands.  The guitar arrangement is reminiscent of Crown Of Souls-era Deeds Of Flesh as well as the nihilistic stop/start common in Wormed. The rhythm section is comprised of staggeringly tight blast beats and gravities, with some tricky cymbal work. This all combines to form appallingly well executed technical death metal songs that are compositionally intriguing as well as disgustingly brutal. There is a depth to this album that goes beyond its terrible production, where a very protracted and menacing structure permeates each song.

What this album lacks in diversity, it makes up for in sheer temerity. It is not an album to viscerally feel, but one which contains a level of nihility that genuinely corrupts the ears. This is artful brutality, and once again, abstract in every sense of the word.