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Infernal War: Redesekration

10/02/11 || Habakuk

On my somewhat recent short trip to Singapore I exchanged some music recommendations with this one dude, and while I apparently converted him to the mighty Demolition Hammer, he played me some Infernal War. A fair trade with a little catch. More on that – later.

“What is Infernal War?”, is the first question to be addressed. It is a band from Poland, playing black/death metal. More black – or more death? We just don’t know. Let’s take a look at the deathblack-o-meter: The mixture is at the exact best spot. Write that down.

Now it is no secret that I do not consider black metal my favorite genre, but in a dose like this, I highly approve of it. A band whose sound springs to mind immediately as a comparison are the absolutely brilliant Angel Corpse, and in fact their very own Pete Helmkamp has a guest appearance on “Redesekration”. A mere coincidence? Improbable. On this album, Infernal War’s sound has the insane speed and raspy vileness of a Marduk record (the only good things about Marduk) with a Behemoth-like punch to the production, frantic Slayer-esque whammy bar solos and varied song structures (not blasting 24/7) akin to the best in death metal. It’s just so fucken fast that you’ll admittedly need a little break from time to time. But that is your mistake alone, weakling! And fear not, luckily there are also enough absolutely killer breakdowns that serve as anchors in the sea of black dess presented. Just think of some of the best Angel Corpse songs (“Wolflust”, for example), mentally endow them with a great production, and you will have a rough image of what this here band is capable of. Throughout an entire, fillerless album.

The singer spews forth his verses in a comprehensible and very enjoyable mix of black and death influences and provides a few “UNNNNNNNH!“s for our listening pleasure as well. A real monster sits behind the kit and drives the album forward with relentless perfection. The riffing is gritty and rooted in all things thrash and death, spiced up with little dissonant black metal harmonics. All over, this is one nasty fucken kick in the gut, as intense as a grindcore record and one of the best truly extreme albums I have heard in the past few years.

So – what’s the catch? The catch is something you don’t expect from a recommendation from Singapore, and I found out on metal-archives: Infernal War used to be called “Infernal SS” and are apparently somewhat connected to a few NS black metal bands. Hooray. As a German, I’m obviously a bit more sensitive to this sort of shit, but still, this sucks. The lyrics on “Redesekration” aren’t more extreme than others in the genre (we’re talking non-NS), but with what I just said in the back of my head, lines like this:

“Totalitarian evil order we bring / Realize, this nightmare is real / Transgress! Oppress! Depopulate! / Restrain! Suppress! Exterminate! / Hail the regime of terror!”

…leave a bad taste in my mouth. That’s as bad as it gets, though, so maybe I’m overreacting. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what they do believe in, and therefore I’m not saying don’t listen to them – in fact I say check them out, and I’ll leave the rest for you to decide. The reason for that is simple: this shit is so good, I happily keep listening to it, moral dilemma or not. An absolutely fantastic album.

Information
Released: 2007
Label: Agonia Records
Website: Infernal War MySpace
Band
Herr Warcrimer: vocals
Zyklon: guitars
Triumphator: guitars
Godcrusher: bass
Stormblast: drums

Tracklist
01. Prelude to infernal purification (intro)
02. Spill the dirty blood of Jesus
03. Shatterer of liberty
04. Redesekration
05. Radical (Kill the peace!)
06. Regime of terror
07. Heretic victory ascending
08. Extirpate
09. Death’s evangelist
10. Branded with flames of Gehinnom
11. The end of time

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