REPLICANT is a death metal band from New Jersey who formed in 2014; “Infinite Morality” is their third full length album. They have also released two EPs and two splits. “Infinite Morality” is an album that contains many other albums, an adventure with a million side quests. There are too many twists and turns among the the 9 song, 44 minute runtime to possibly understand what the listener will be getting into, save for one element: it will be nightmarish, dissonant, and brutal. As the album explodes and rebuilds itself nine different times, it is always put together in a coherent way. This is the true magic of the album: insane songs with a lot of moving parts that still manage to be cohesive and focused. Few bands do it as well as REPLICANT have done with ‘Infinite Morality.”

The journey unto madness begins with “Acid Mirror,” and its deranged riffs and frantic but tight display of drumming madness. The bass guitar feels as if it is pressing against my skull, even as the riffs are hammering their own way through. Between these bursts of dissonant speed, the song manages to squeeze in groove that acts as an additional musical hook that music this extreme normally can only dream of having. The middle portion is depraved, the band slowing the tempo to let the depraved death growls and screams barrel their way in. The final moments of the song is basically psychedelic death metal, odd but abrasive noises going toe to toe with the rhythm section.

“Orgasm of Bereavement” has more going for it within the first thirty seconds that some albums do in an hour. The guitars shred out notes that break up and glue themselves back together while the wall of rhythmic power pulses which mess with the mind while still being a rock solid foundation. The riffs around the halfway mark are powerful stuff, inducing whiplash and causing my headphones to fall off my head. When I got them back on, I was treated to a wild dissonant section where the guitars, bass and drums take turns twisting the song into macabre shapes. I love the song’s ending, ultra deep growls tunneling through my ears. “SCN9A,” is a short interlude that divides the album’s halves but it isn’t a piece for respite...it’s just as odd and uncomfortable as anything else here and it transforms perfectly into the next song, “Pain Enduring.”

The drumming that opens the song will certainly teach a painful lesson and if that doesn’t work, the guitars and bass that race through seconds later will surely finish the job. The movement that follows afterwards is chunky and powerful, waves of imaginative death metal that crash against the shores of whatever is left of the senses. The groove in the later half leads into a mind-bending solo, the band ensuring that I’m never comfortable with their music for more than a few precious moments at a time. The final song is the almighty “Planet of Skin,” which has a feeling of always being on the edge of disaster, like a tall structure that is ever leaning towards its inevitable demise. The slower paced pieces betray the mind and disorient it as the song suddenly speeds up from crushing groove to lighting fast speed.

Just when my musical feels thinks they are planted on firm ground, the song throws in another tripped out clean psychedelic moment that transports me to a nightmarish alien world. My escape from this land doesn’t help as I’m thrown into the fire and frenzy of the song’s last two harrowing moments. REPLICANT’s “Infinite Mortality” is infinite planes of ever shifting realities. A variety of sickening moods and worried feels are reached when listening to this insane album but the trip is well worth braving this great unknown.