Can it really be bad if you take a bunch of educated Death Metal musicians with renowned careers and make an album? Probably not! CRUCIFYRE includes members from GENRAL SURGERY, MORBID, CREMATORY, REGURGITATE, NASUM and AFFLICTED to mention a few on the members earlier beings so these guys sure as hell knows what they're doing. But, I do admit I had higher expectations on CRUCIFYRE's debut "Infernal Earthly Divine" because all the good criticism and praises this album has been bombarded with.
My biggest problem with the album is the production.

The Stockholm Death Metal sound was created in Studio Sunlight by Thomas Skogsberg, like ENTOMBED, DISMEMBER, SORCERY plus many more and even if many other finishes to an album is perfectly ok that is one big trademark when it comes to Stockholm Death Metal for me. I miss the muddy sound and powerful guitar sound on "Infernal Earthly Divine", for me this album sounds a little too fluffy and timid and not as edgy as it could have done.

Musically the record incorporate most of the clichés of the genre, the riffs, the quite clear growling vocals, melodic parts, groovy parts and so on. There's nothing new about it but it's still a damn good album. Sometimes it feels like I'm back in the early 90's hanging out at the small filthy venues waiting for the next person to come up and try to sell me a demo-tape or a black and white fanzine. The mastodon song "Hellish Sacrifice" clocks in on over seven minutes and is a real masterpiece, after the piano based intro it includes all you can wish for in Death Metal. It perhaps is the most melodic track of the album but it is the one that sounds the most unique on the album. Another favorite is the old demo track "Thessalonian Death Cult" reminds me on occasion rather on the Florida version of Death Metal, quite draggy riff and abysmal vocals. Amazing!

After listening to the record over and over again I started to see the reason for all good words. It is a legacy of the Swedish Death Metal scene, it sounds very Old School but not studied. It sounds exactly like so many bands did 20 odd years ago so there's nothing new to it. But I'm bound to join in on the praises because a tribute to the past can be really good too if it is done the right way, and "Infernal Earthly Divine" absolutely is.