Infernal Death, from Poland, suffered death in mid 1990s, after forming in 1991, putting out demo and live tapes, then changing their name to Miscarriage in 1993. However, in 2009 they did the same trick as that Jesus guy in that well known fantasy book; resurrection occurred! A promotional release followed, and then it was time for the band's first full length album, 'Gniew' (translates to "anger").

Let's have a small competition here. You have to guess right, that do Infernal Death sound perhaps a) old school death metal, or b) modern death metal. The prize is something nice. Send your answers to... Okay, enough of this crap. Anyway, if you answered a), you can have a happy winner wank or something, but if your choice was b), then your punishment is to put a paper bag in your head and live without any trousers and pants for the rest of the week, with a baby Jesus butt-plug stuffed up your behind (this is not a paid advertisement).

So, Infernal Death sound like that time that they were dead never happened. Their riffs and general performances are pretty simplistic (more than, let 's say Vader's 1992 debut album 'The Ultimate Incantation', at least for a big part). They definitely have their hearts in old school death metal, and in style that was more punishing than technical. As most of the songs aren't short, it is good, that there's quite a bit of parts and tempo changes in the songs. The main atmosphere is between evil and barbarous, from fast sawing to slower and heavier riffing, and tremolo stuff. There's loads of guitar solos and even melodies at times. I hear some grindcore influences too, that bring, for example, Napalm Death to my mind. The guitar tone is quite warm, but could have a bit more bite to it, even though it ain't devoid of it even now.

Vocals are mostly cruel growl, with some accompanying growls adding some different flavour. Lyrics-wise this is on social side of things, mainly about how fucked up place EU is to live in. Sadly I cannot go deeper into lyrics, as they are in Polish, but the themes make me wish they were in English! I personally cannot say how fucked EU is, under the governance of banks and other financial establishments. It's good, that there are people who are awake and understand this all. I'm not ranting more... At least not here.

The rhythm section is somewhat lacking. First, the bass guitar is there, but is hardly heard in the mix. Maybe it is following drums so closely, that's how I've managed to detect it. The drums are okay with varying beats, but they sound way too machiney. They should sound far more organic to give good rumbling. This is what the soundscape misses. All in all the production work is unsuccessful, and while this version is a reissue, I believe this wasn't remastered.

This reissue includes the whole 'Twilight Tales' demo from 1991 as bonus. It was transferred from tape, as you might have already guessed. It does have typical faults of old cassette. At least it's now transferred to digital format, before tapes are destroyed by time. The sound is abysmal, thanks to a lot of hissing and stretched tape, plus generally bad sound. It sounds like it was recorded with a mic when the cassette was playing. Well, there's a chance to check out how the band sounded on their debut demo. I can unveil that, Infernal Death mixed death metal with some grindcore on it, too. By the way, the opener 'Piekielna Śmierć' appears on both releases.

'Gniew' is an okay take on old school death metal. The band's homeland can be heard in their style and sound. The album manages to offer quite varying moments, and I only mean the album songs here. I've heard better, I've heard worse, but 'Gniew' manages to float above average, definitely.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
01/07/2013 22:22