loading...
Their Worst Album - 63%
I first heard this album back when I began getting into heavier music. This was in the year 2016. If I wrote a review for this album back then, it would've gotten a higher score, but now we have 2 other Infant Annihilator full-length albums to compare this to. Let me tell you, this is probably their worst album by comparison. Why would that be? The short and exaggerated answer would be that it's basically just djent with power chords and blast beats. The long answer is exactly the reason we have the review section on Metal Archives. So let's get right into it.
The album opens up with a baby crying, which is already pretty unoriginal if you ask me. After that, it gets into the actual music. The album is musically quite impressive. No, seriously. It's very technical and well thought out. However, the guitar tone kind of ruins it. Because of the fact that they utilize the lower strings more often than the high ones, they should be using a bit more treble and a bit less low end. Otherwise, it just ends up sounding like djent, because there's too much low end in the tone. It may not seem like a problem at first, but when this problem is present throughout the entire album, it's pretty obvious and becomes hard to ignore.
The drumming is very well done. Honestly, it's probably the best part of the album. I don't care that it implements triggers, as long as it sounds good. The guest spots are very good as well. There are two guest vocalists and a guest guitar solo. Every single one of them do a perfect job. Especially the guest guitar solo, which is performed by Lucas Mann of Rings Of Saturn. The main vocalist, Dan Watson, is a pretty decent vocalist. However, he doesn't sound unique at all. For example, when I was first getting into deathcore, I couldn't tell his voice apart from other vocalists. Plus, he is nowhere near as good as Dickie Allen when it comes to harsh vocals.
The lyrics aren't given much thought. They sound like the type of lyrics you would hear in a goregrind album. Because of this, the album has little to no atmosphere. I believe that is the main reason this album is their worst by comparison. Their second album, The Elysian Grandeval Galeriach, relied heavily on atmosphere and absolutely nailed it. I haven't listened to the third album enough to decide if the atmosphere is as good as the second album, but most of the problems within this album are gone in the second and third albums.
I say this all the time. Just because something is not particularly good, doesn't mean you can't find enjoyment in it. This is a great example of that. The album's instrumentation is well done, but many other problems end up ruining that. Regardless, I still love this album very much, as it was the first deathcore album I had ever heard. If these problems weren't so prevalent, I'd give a higher rating.
