Skulking about in the depths of Kent, England's underground music scene, INFECTED DEAD is a Frankenstein amalgamation of members from top Kent Death Metal acts like MONUMENTOMB and NEONHALO. The fiery quintet has been making a name for themselves since they formed in 2014, and they are finally ready to terrorize the surface world with the release of their skull-caving debut "Archaic Malevolence".

We're lulled into a false sense of security with a morose music box theme in "Book of Dead Names". It's a dreary, horror movie-worthy overture befitting a trailer about a haunted asylum or something. The overture reaches its apex in the intro to the title track "Archaic Malevolence" where your senses are immediately bombarded with shrieking vocals and drums that aim to pound your eardrums into oblivion. INFECTED DEAD shows off just how formidable they are in the death metal pantheon in only two songs. Lou Ede's vocal chords get flayed and shredded to holy Hell and back in "Resurrectionist". It makes my throat ache just listening to him put his voice box through such torture. "Invocation of Unspeakable Gods" lets every listener within a twenty-mile radius know just how intimidating it is with chugging and furious growls. Midway through, the guitars unleash a dizzying, frenetic solo while wailing for mercy that is never going to come until the song ends. "Forced Existence's" drums are nothing short of high-speed, going through the worst abuse in the whole album being pounded mercilessly into the ground.

"Samsara" (sanskrit for 'wandering') is the final track, changing things up with a waltz-y time signature, and the drums are only getting abused worse; seismic beats threaten to crack the Earth in two as Ede pushes the very limits of his vocals. ARCHAIC MALEVOLENCE is just as formidable a Death band as the the bigger names out there, like CATTLE DECAPITATION or DEICIDE. They should be on everyone's radar after this release.