It’s easy to become jaded in this day and age, to feel like the best years of metal are behind us. It’s true that metal hasn’t exactly been quote-unquote “cutting edge” for some time now; gone are the days where someone would cue up an album and be genuinely gobsmacked, having literally never heard anything like it before and wondering how a band could possibly have achieved something like this. Pretty much everything we have now is admittedly an imitation, adaptation, amalgamation, or a slow and steady natural progression of what came before, and there are some who would choose to take this as a sign that metal is stagnating, or even outright dying.
This is complete and utter crap.
It may not be breaking new ground on a regular basis anymore like in the early days where there was a conga line of smash hits and instant classics, but there are still plenty of bands out there that can knock your socks off and leave you shaking your head in disbelief. We live in an age of abundance, which gives us the unique advantage of having multiple frames of reference to compare and contrast the veritable torrent of new releases constantly coming our way. That being said, Infinite Mortality, the newest album from the New Jersey dissonant death metal outfit Replicant, is one of the most relentless, mercilessly heavy albums to come out so far this year, which by my reckoning makes for a clear indication of a robust, extremely healthy musical landscape.
So, where to begin? What exactly is this album? How would one classify it? Is it death metal? Is it hardcore? Is it grind? Is it dissodeath? The answer is yes. It’s an unholy witch’s brew of some of the best elements of all of the above. It’s menacing, frantic, and diabolically catchy, tailor made to make you want to beat the ever-loving piss out of your friends in the pit. Right from the opening chugging riffs in “Acid Mirror” the band make it known that they mean business, and there is nary a moment of reprieve to be found from here on out.
It can be difficult to try to hold things under a microscope while sitting in the middle of a whirlwind of atmospheric dissonance and sheer unadulterated aggression, but one detail that kept jumping out at me was just how appropriate the vocals feel in conjunction with the rest of the music. Michael Gonçalves could have easily gone with a standard growl or guttural to compliment the insanely beefy riffs and pulverizing breakdowns and it would have been just fine, but instead his pained, bellowing howls add a whole other layer of ominousness that I didn’t even realize was missing, or frankly necessary. It’s a bit jarring at first but it doesn’t take long to acclimate to it, and once you do you’ll quickly realize that it was in fact the perfect choice. You can literally hear his voice cracking and straining at times, and while I doubt he’s actually doing any significant lasting damage, it sure as shit sounds like it, and that frenetic lack of restraint is an apt metaphor for the album’s entire personality.
Infinite Mortality is the sonic equivalent of getting jumped in an alleyway and curb stomped by a gang of Olympic level athletes. It’s positively savage from beginning to end, but if I had to pick one song in particular that stands out it would have to be the fourth track “Reciprocal Abandonment”. While all of the others certainly have plenty to offer in terms of over-the-top heaviness and ferocious breakdowns galore, this one has the most variety of flow and song structure without sacrificing any of the aforementioned heaviness. In fact, the breakdown around the 2-minute mark is nothing short of monstrous, quite possibly one of the heaviest on the entire album, and that’s before you even get to the one that comes after the excellent fake-out ending. It’s unpredictable, but every time it changes direction it lands like a punch to the gut with brass knuckles.
As for the rest of the songs, they do occasionally get a bit same-y, but I can’t really complain about that too much because at least we’re getting tons of tons of some really great shit. That would be like going to a Brazilian steakhouse and complaining that there’s too much perfectly cooked and seasoned meat. It’s not a bad thing by any means, but I could see it getting a tad exhausting after a while. Regardless, there is still plenty to love, from the tasteful use of harmonics in “Shrine to the Incomprehensible” to the way the opening riff of “Nekrotunnel” practically begs the listener to stand up and start two-stepping. Once the final 9-minute opus “Planet of Skin” finally concludes with little to no ceremony, don’t be surprised if you find yourself wiping the sweat from your brow.
Once the dust had finally settled, I found myself thoroughly impressed with everything I had underwent. I haven’t gotten my ass kicked this hard since the time I got talked into trying out for the middle school football team, but I enjoyed this experience a hell of a lot more and was exponentially more enthusiastic to go back for more. I may not have been cut out for the gridiron, but I will proudly count myself amongst those with the fortitude to appreciate something this obscenely heavy. It takes a certain kind of person to truly enjoy something this bleak and obnoxious, but dammit, I love it, and I already want more.
Infinite Mortality is available now via Transcending Obscurity Records. Order your copy here
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