Burning the Infidel

The first time I came across this band was some time in the early-90’s through a compilation which mostly contained Christian metal bands; they were featured there with the track “Bombs Away” from the “Burning the Infidel” demo. I liked their minimalistic, quasi-progressive approach to the genre with these sharp, creepy riff-patterns, but was unable to track down any other material, nor any pieces of information about them. They remained a most obscure entity for another eight years until the influx of The Internet when all information became readily available to the masses.

Then I found out that they had nothing to do with the Christian metal movement, except for a few suggestive song-titles, and that they had two demos released in the midst of the thrash metal craze in the late-80’s. Still, no chance to get a hold of any of those recordings… for another five years when an acquaintance of mine passed me the compilation reviewed here. The band had all the requisite skills to play a more prominent role on the scene, even in the saturated one from the late-80’s, especially when they didn’t sound like anyone else out there. Their style was characterized by sharp mid-paced riffs and mean, semi-shouty vocals at times recalling the ones of Schmier (Destruction), with sinister melodic tunes inserted here and there, and proficient elaborate lead sections. There are slower, almost balladic, breaks (“God Blesses Him”), enchanting Oriental hooks (Burning the Infidel”) the latter bringing a lot of atmosphere with them. The problem is that the delivery is nearly identical on every composition a perfect example of which is the mentioned “Bombs Away” which has a great dramatic intro with very nice bass support; later on the guys continue lashing this razor-like mid-tempo riffage that can be heard on every other cut with slight modifications.

The first demo is the more immediate, catchier listen while the second one goes towards more complex, progressive territories with longer tracks with a marginally bigger array of tempos as evident from the 8-min saga “Schizophrenia” which again could have been made livelier with a more frequent use of faster-paced passages. The title-track is the big exception with brisk speedy guitars which adhere to the gallops the bass again playing a major part with the authoritative burps provided at every opportunity, the drama reaching proto-deathy proportions in the middle the band keeping it short and concise without any flashy embellishments. “Kingdom of the Light” is a more technical piece with a more energetic semi-galloping engine, and with a covert speed metal aesthetics which at some stage starts sounding not far from Helstar’s “Nosferatu” even. “White Slavery” indulges in a lengthy balladic intro the singer trying to sound a bit more lyrical to mixed results; the guys keep thrashing with all the mid-tempo vigour they can summon helped by a few more interesting progressive variations.

Variety is hardly the name of the game here, but this consistent unwavering mid-tempo approach by all means had its charm, and the band did provide other elements to keep the listener hooked to the proceedings. They were obviously full of enthusiasm at the beginning with the two demos shot in quick succession, and should have stayed the course as an official release was definitely a possibility, albeit with a bigger or smaller delay (check Flaming Anger for an example of perseverance). Fortunately, Iron Pages Records remembered these obscures in the new millennium, and this compilation handsomely captures everything the guys had composed save for one song (“Nuclear Man”, from the debut demo). This release didn’t cause any reunion waves within the band camp; the guys must have sunk deep in the archives of the criminal justice records… maybe the release of this “Nuclear Man” as a single entity could detonate its foundations, and bring the band back to the surface for another trial.