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Infant Annihilator > The Battle of Yaldabaoth > Reviews > MrMetalpants
Infant Annihilator - The Battle of Yaldabaoth

Aww, they're all grown up... Mostly. - 76%

MrMetalpants, November 21st, 2019
Written based on this version: 2019, Digital, Independent

Okay, I get it. They were/are a joke band, much in the way of Cannabis Corpse. It's Infant Annihilator, but much like with the only other death core band I listen to, Rings of Saturn, they are actually decent at their instruments (more on that later). The reason I like these two bands is because they are more on the technical death core side, which means there is more expected of them musically and both bands deliver on this. Before you write either off, take a listen on a recent release from either of them. RoS had a turning point on Ultu Ulla and Infant Annihilator had theirs on The Elysian Grandeval Galeriarch. I respect when a band can better themselves and outrun their past. Well, in this case they still don't take themselves all that serious but they're definitely trying.

Yes, they both have breakdowns here and there, but they are not your standard 1's and 0's with long pauses. They are set at breakneck speeds with scales, unique time signatures, and combinations of tremolo, chugs, open chords, etc. Look at the little one at 3:25 on "The Kingdom Sitteth Lonely Beneath Thine Hallowed Heavens". Okay, that song title is not helping my case about them growing out being just a lampoon on the genre... Either way, this is nothing like Suicide Silence, Bring me the Horizon, or Carnifex. "Ov Sacrament and Sincest" is the closest to that old death core sound but even the breakdown at 1:40 is interesting for a break down. "A Rape of Sirens" is another that's a little too traditional for me. Long story short as far as the writing goes is that on the last two albums they’ve given well-written, thought-out, technically impressive songs that are enjoyable to listen to. I haven’t the heart to look up any recent music videos from them, though…

First of all, the guitars. Now we've either gone too meta or they are actually taking things seriously with this album, but either way, they've always been great guitar players and it's this album that got them entered into The Metal Archives. The guitars feature far more musical progressions and a differing style. Good on you Infant annihilator! You're growing up! The noodles are as noodley as ever, but they employ them in a different fashion. Listen to the oddness they (and the bass) conjure up at at 2:38 on "Swinaecologist". 3:17 on “The Battle of Yaldabaoth” has the best solo on the album. You’d expect it to be all noodles and scales, but lo! It has mood, melody with the rhythm section, attitude, and then a little sweeping at the end. It’s short, unfortunately, but is a great addition to the song. It brought me back to when ___ was performing such soulful leads for The Black Dahlia Murder. That’s an extremely experimental song overall, so maybe he was allowed more reign over the lead section.

Yes, Aaron Kitcher uses an electronic kit for drumming. Marco Pitruzella has been known to use them, and one of the drummers for Misery Index recorded an entire album using triggers then copy/pasted. I didn't hear a lot of uproar over that... I personally am not against triggers when used properly. They essentially turn a physical drum kit into an electronic kit. When not used properly (programming a piece to strike twice when only engaged once), then I'm annoyed. That should be straight-up illegal. Furthermore it's hard to determine when a drummer has done this, other than that it sounds perfect. As in, too perfect. I don’t think Aaron is cheating here, but Thy Art is Murder held a drum cover competition years ago, which Aaron won, using an electronic kit. When you watch that video you see he doesn’t need to cheat, he’s just damn fast.

You can actually hear it rumble in the background through all the madness. It rattles a little when it's low and slamming which works against their skin-tight sound. When it goes high on the neck it noodles around just fine along with the guitar (I feel like noodles is the wrong term... Sausages around?). There’s a few moments where it even breaks off into it’s own pattern, independent of the rhythm section. The vocals are probably the weakest point on the album. There's highs and there's lows and sometimes it sounds fun but overall I don't care for them.

In the end, color me impressed. Though some of the songs end up falling flat, I am all for death core bands growing up and becoming respectable. There are so many great musicians being hampered by the style of death core. Think Job for a Cowboy or The Black Dahlia Murder shedding hard core elements in favor of respect. They could have had much larger of a fan base if they kept on their path or even added more breakdown and simplified their sound. They alienated many listeners but gained respect. Infant Annihilator is on this path as well.

Favorite tracks:
-Three Bastards
-The Battle of Yaldabaoth
-The Kingdom Sitteth Lonely Beneath Thine Hallowed Heavens
-Thy Faith, Thy Oblivion

Technical Skill: 90% Originality: 76% Song writing: 68% Production: 70%