Album: The Battle of Yaldabaoth
Artist: Infant Annihilator
Genre: #Metal
Sub-Genres: #DeathMetal, #Deathcore
Label: Self
Non-Airable Tracks: N/A
Description:
Infant Annihilator are back for their third album and it is business as usual for the band. Their first album back in 2012 debuted their sound as technical death metal mixed with hardcore, or rather “deathcore”. While the results were less than stellar, the band continued and their second album The Elysian Grandeval Galèriarch had more progressive songwriting while also improving on the sound overall. On The Battle of Yaldabaoth, the band returned to the more simplistic style of their debut. The playing is as mechanical as ever and the songs are as brutal as ever, mostly to a fault. Once the sound of the album settles in, there is never a moment of anything else that might bring meaning to the loudness so what were left with is a monochrome wall of sounds. The vocals harken back to Carcass’ bodily-process vocals (that is, vocals meant to sound like digestion or vomit), the drums blast relentlessly, and the guitar plays walls of noise and technical interludes with only the occasional palatable melody. The best track on the album is “Three Bastards”, whose guitar hook is catchy despite being hidden behind more prominent cacophonies. Other than that, there are no real standout moments. The first lesson of brutal music is that walls of noise only mean something when juxtaposed with quieter moments and The Battle of Yaldabaoth failed at it.
Sounds Like: Infant Annihilator
Recommended Tracks: Three Bastards
Reviewer’s Name: Bryan
Date of Review: 10/1/19