Austria, where the band in question for today's review is partially from, has been on my radar as of late for a few reasons. For one, if both the fucking United States congress can't get replaced by enough true progressives by about 2022 (I'm sick of having my tax dollars fund unnecessary imperialist wars) AND all my band lineups (especially my orchestral death solo band SPECTRIA) fall apart by that time, I'm probably going to be moving there/near where this band is based roughly speaking. In doing research about the country's metal scene for that "Plan Z" scenario, I stumbled across another band from Austria as well that in opening I absolutely positively must implore you to check out called ABBADON CODEX who also play orchestral death metal and put out one of the better discs of this year with "The Human Parasite" (being able to play with those guys if I do indeed relocate SPECTRIA to Austria in a worst case scenario would be the sickestttt).

Any case, INFECTED CHAOS bill themselves as a sort of throwback to the 90s death metal sound blended with the modern sound and before one even presses play this can be seen in the album art for this release (which admittedly isn't that good... I can't even tell what the fuck is going on in it, but you can tell they were at least... trying to go for the right vibe stylistically). The logo reflects this as well. It's almost got a REVOCATION style but with the drippiness that most people associate with "deathcore" logos.

After a brief intro track with fully orchestral cinematic tones that did nothing for me as a fan of that kind of music on it's own merits but wish the band would explore it further in the context of the songs to follow (I knew they wouldn't) we get our first death metal song "One With the Wild" which exhibits a vibe of OSDM blended with a bit of a melodeath sound in the tremolo picked motifs. This very much makes me think of a band like CARCASS. Especially with the really dark note choice and layered harmonies, particularly in the hook section which is especially well composed and seems to (along with the final riff) draw slightly from black metal conventions as well. This continues into the following song, already showing that INFECTED CHAOS know how to structure their song order to make sensible musical flow.

I really like the vocals showcased early on on this disc (although in the beginning of "Evangelion Noir" both they, spoken word scattered throughout and the lead guitar tone become pretty unpleasant. Just during the first minute though, most of the rest of the song is pretty badass and driving with some note choice that reminded me of NILE), even though these vocals are arguably a very generic cookie monster sound. They just have a lot of low end energy to them. In contrast I don't really like the snare tone on this thing. It's pretty boxy and is EQd in a way that makes the hits sound very repetitive and unnatural. But the upside to these extreme EQ moves is that the mix is very clear. I think that's where the "modern" aspect of the bands sound comes in to play (I can even hear the bass on the entire record!)

That aspect also comes into play when high and low harsh vocals are layered as you hear in many modern death metal bands, and one example is in the song "Hatecreed" which completely fell flat for me. Despite variances in the rhythm of the vocals and clear effort put into the composition of the guitar lines in this song, it still comes across as very undynamic and musically same in the straight rhythm and repetition in the bulk of the vocals and drum patterns, and the strength of the riffs just isn't enough to balance that out. The title track and the songs "" also. In the title songs case, the first 40 seconds got me really pumped but then I got a bit of a bonerkill when the next riff came in that for whatever reason, didn't feel like a blast beat worked over it, followed by a very run of the mill melodeath riff. Most of the harmonizations here don't match the tense, macabre brilliance found in "One with the Wild" either save for a very brief moment before the main riff kicks back in.

That writing strength returns in the following song "Rise, Battle, Destroy," which basically sounds exactly like AMON AMARTH but a bit more brutal. I absolutely love the vibe given off by the chorus, tapping section and guitar solo in this song. "Blade in the Fog" opens and closes off with about 40 seconds of the most unengaging material on the album, but it absolutely needs to be there because it EXPLODES shortly after into some of the most intense material on the whole record. Fast sections and disgusting grooves galore contrasted with equally intense occasional melodic guitar playing and crescendos in the pitch of the harsh vocals. This song flows perfectly into the following song "Lair of the Heretic" the same way "One with the Wild" flows well into "Arcane Perfection." "Into Westward Waves" also has one of the best riffs on the album at about one minute and 15 seconds in.

"Among the Wastes" is the final cut on here, and given its impressive seven+ minute length, I was hoping it would be more epic and some way, and I'm happy my suspicions were confirmed! Interestingly enough, the two previous bands I compared INFECTED CHAOS's sound to are again the best things I can relate this to... but not only that... a VERY specific point in the career of both CARCASS and AMON AMARTH: the 8 minute absolute masterpiece closer tracks to the 2013 albums of both bands. It's almost scary how much this song reminds me of those songs (and maybe it's only in part because I was JUST listening to "Mount of Execution" before I decided to finish listening to this album and writing this review as fate would have it). Not much more to say other than it's definitely the best song on here and reminds me of those two masterpieces, just not QUITE as masterful.

All in all, really decent effort from these guys, drawing from OSDM and more melodic strains of death metal with those modern touches. If that sounds up your alley definitely support these guys. It's a tad overly consistent, and hearing one song can really give you the feel for the whole album, and not as utterly infectious and replayable as... the godlike tech death opus of the year I'm about to do a write up on... but that doesn't mean this is bad, just because it's nowhere near cracking my top 10, 20 or probably even 30. I included "Rise, Battle, Destroy" below, because I tend to believe it's best to hear the closing songs to albums... ya know... last. I liked it, but I hope some of you who wound up reading this all the way up to this point can like it even more!