Self Released 2012
1.A Prayer For Cleansing 2.Malevolence Of Our Lord
3.Sermon Of The Augur 4.Catastrophic Reprisals 5.Condemned To Psychosis
6.The Gathering 7.Ritual Incantation
No grandiose, over the top or lengthy intros here, ‘A Prayer
For Cleansing’ rips open from the outset in a hail of harsh yet melodic black
metal nastiness. There’s a real intricacy to the bands guitar work which is
death metal at its core but with a massive dose of black metal added in for
good measure. There are very heaving leanings towards a Dissection influenced
sound, but what sets the band apart from the Swedish masters of blackened death
metal are the vocals, being more scathing, more black metal in their delivery,
harsh high pitched screaming preferred. There is also real catchiness to the
guitar work, which showcases an added slice of groove that gives some of the riffs a slightly more death metal
sound, but which never wandering too far from the black metal sound either. As
‘Malevolence of Our Lord’ blasts open, the Dissection influence is once again very
apparent; the opening riffs could have almost been taken from ‘Storm of the
Lights Bane’. Not to suggest the band are copying that masterpiece, merely
paying homage to it in their own way. The drumming stands out as particularly
effective here, blasting along at a hell of a pace. The double kicks really pummelling and adding
to the songs brutality, enhancing its overall effectiveness. The track does
however take its own original path, the bands own style opening up and really
beginning to show their talent off perfectly. Ending with more
‘Dissection Worship’ this proves to be an outstanding track.
‘Sermon of the
Augur’ is a relatively short interlude track; acoustic guitars are used and
accompanied by eerie, almost industrial samples and soundtracks, which to be
honest only acts as a filler and the samples are really high pitched and
annoying and somewhat unessacery. Leaving the acoustic guitars to their own
devices would have been a much more attractive and more listenable approach.
‘Catastrophic Reprisals’ returns to the vicious blackened death metal, and what
an excellent return it is. The sense of urgency has returned, as have the blast
beats and full on extreme metal attack, brutal yet catchy blackened death metal
played outstandingly. This is definitely the most original sounding track so
far, the bands song writing skills and talent fully evident, showcasing the
fact that every band member is more than capable of handling their instruments superbly
and as ‘Condemned To Psychosis’ bursts forth furiously, there’s no let-up in
the extremity on offer. There’s more of the same again, scathing and
scornful with melody added to really make the songs burst to life. Again, it’s
another extremely brutal track, blast beats ravage the song from start to
finish, which at only 2:53 proves to be a very short sharp and precise piece of
music. ‘The Gathering’ is similar to ‘Sermon of the Augur’, being a short
interlude of eerie samples, with slightly growled vocals sweeping back and
forth in the dense atmosphere being stirred, almost sounding like something
Nile would compose and add to an album as an intro of filler. It is what it is,
an interlude. Closing this e.p. is
‘Ritual Incantation’ and what a way to
finish things off! By far the best track on this release, the guitar riffs
being very ‘Swedish death/black metal’ in composition, with lots on melodic
tremolo picking. The track is extremely epic, extremely black metal and really
brutal. It offers everything you need from extreme metal and is very
‘listenable’ indeed. A slightly new approach is taken a few minutes into the
fourteen minute monster, the track slowing right down with acoustic guitars and
cleanly sung, chant like vocals taking over the track completely. It’s actually
a good change in direction, offering the listener something different to all of
the other tracks. As the acoustic guitars drop out, the chanting vocals and
‘wave/water samples’ are left to their own devices to end the track (for what
seems like an eternity). 'There are only so many waves crashing you can listen
to, but I kind of get why they left them running for so long, to keep the
brooding and creepy atmosphere going for as long as possible. One point that
really should be brought to your attention is the packaging, which is
absolutely stunning! Hand bound luxury cardboard booklet which includes several
pages of amazing, mediaeval artwork. A lot of (probably costly) effort has been
put into the presentation, which really deserves top marks alone. Musically
there’s no real faulting the band either, fans of Scandinavian inspired death
black metal will love this as it ticks all the right boxes and fans of
Dissection will certainly get where the band are coming from. The guitars were
a little low in the mix meaning the songs became very drum/vocal heavy at
times, but it’s a minor niggle. Overall, The Infernal Sea has produced an
excellent e.p. which comes well recommended, if not for the excellent music,
but also for the great packaging!
8 out of 10
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