Let's go and desecrate the grave... of a Polish death metal band Infatuation Of Death. There are no holy shrouds to be found, but shreds of angels ripped by demonic penises of hellish beasts of apocalypse and blasphemy!!! Fuck me, I was taken by some evil force there. Well, that sentence is not far from the band's older lyrics, and as this album has none printed, we'll go with that, then.

This, the first and the last, full-length album from IOD is blasphemous death metal done in old school way, and with no uniqueness. They were influenced by both, Polish and US, second tier death metal bands such as Incantation, Hate, Immolation, Vader... IOD's sonics are ominous, blasphemous, evil, yet vehement in it all. The tempos change a lot, very frequently. The band loves to do it fast, often blasting it out, but also slow down into mid-paces. Which helps songs to breath, but does not disintegrate them. The songs tend to be rather memorable, and not totally similar; 'T.A.P.O.S.M.A.' heavily taps into old school black metal, like Venom. Also short interlude 'Icons of Impurity' helps the flow of the album. Generally, this is barbaric, but can also get more elegant.

The guitar work consists of both heavy and tremolo riffing, which fluctuate between very fast and mid-paced palm-muted stuff. The lead guitars can screech like banshees or play really melodic bits. The bass guitar is pummeling and in a highly important part of the low end on the album. There's some technical finger-picking in vein of Tony Choy (Atheist, ex-Pestilence, ex-Cynic). The drums, then... They are basically everywhere, with skilled playing for sure, as is expected these days, and also varied as shit. The negative aspect about them is that they are mixed loud, causing some crackling in the sound. The vocals are about growling in various ways: from high-pitched to low, but always throaty and hoarse. Sometimes more styles are happening together, creating the "demonic effect".

Included on this piece of memorial are both of the band's demos ('Heretic Hellspawn Holocaust' [2003] and 'Bestial Devilized Hell' [2005]). 'Code of Impiety' is actually the next release after the latter demo! My bet is that this was recorded in 2013 or later. This digipak CD is limited to just 500 pieces, so act fast and grab it, if you are keen to blasphemous death metal that is new, but with old school spirit. It is good, but hardly essential.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/05/2017 19:38