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Iniquity: Grime
28/06/11 || The Duff
Some of you bitches I know are going to come in with your “B-but…s” and so forth, but I don’t think much to bands like Entombed, Grave and Asphyx. “Duff…”, I hear you pronounce; “You are a cunt!”. Ah, but see I know they’ve written some of the best music the metal scene shall ever bare witness to, so what happens when a band emerges to mix all the styles of the aforementioned idols with the pinpoint tech and dynamic songwriting craft of classic Suffocation? Denmark’s Iniquity come into play, let me tell you one of the best death metal bands to have ever existed. Herein you’ll find a band that excels at tasteful musicianship, mixing old-school and catchy riffing in a way that has yet to be bettered I suspect in part because these guys have never hit it big and so have been but infrequently emulated.
So with “Grime”, if you haven’t already abandoned the review to visit my profile and shit all over your computer screens (Staffer Daemonomangina, ever the fervent Grave fan and leading the married life I’m certain will still make the effort with his Desktop), we’re at an album where, if “Serenadium” were “Effigy of the Forgotten” in terms of setting the groundwork of uppermost musical prowess even if a touch rough around the edges, the songwriting is honed to a “Pierced From Within” standard of expertise although the style of death metal quite cacophonic in arrangement as with all the classic, raw Swedodeath bands of the early 90’s (intentionally so, I think; a very clean, buzzsaw production but overall I reckon they admire the splatter style of death popularised by Carcass etc.).
“Five Across the Eyes” (abbreviated to FATE, or “Don’t make me double-check my dick still be in your mouth, now!” – GD: Lowering the bar again and again and again…) is to me the svelte of Iniquity where “Grime” is more to the point, comprising songs and not so much mini-epic death metal tracks (with a more fitting, punchy and clean production) – the energy of the band remains faultless as ever, simply refined and dare I say more accessible. You won’t find better riffs when it comes to catchy, a mix of bouncy rhythms and straight-up death metal carnage very identifiably Scandinavian; exotic scales, chugs, triplets and pinch harmonics all in the tastiest of places, a deadly mix of groove and doom or groooom as you prefer and good ol’ fashioned evil.
Iniquity were one of a kind (check out Denmark’s The Cleansing if you fancy more of the same), never overplaying yet clearly revelling in the mastery of their craft, I’ve never come across such an unusual blend of downplayed and professional, “Grime” an amazing disc by which the band tied off its career.
- Information
- Released: 2002
- Label: Mighty Music
- Website: Iniquity MySpace
- Band
- Mads Haarlev: vocals, guitars
- Jesper Frost Jensen: drums
- Thomas Fagerlind: bass
- Kræn Meier: guitars
- Tracklist
- 01. Tides of Vengeance
- 02. The Bullet’s Breath
- 03. Border into Shadow
- 04. Bloodletting
- 05. Spawn of the Abscess
- 06. Thawed for Breeding
- 07. Stygian (instrumental)
- 08. The Last Incantation
- 09. Poets of the Trench
- 10. Poets of the Trench, Part II
