Time to review one of the albums mentioned in the Top 50 list. My personal choice, Infester.
Sonically, Infester is the opposite of melodic, beautiful music. This overlooked, under-appreciated gem of an album from one of the sickest bands gives the listener an audio experience of a dungeon right in the middle of the burning heat of hellfire.
To The Depths, In Degradation is not quite what you would expect from a Death Metal album from 1994. It explores the darkest corners of Death Metal music, bordering Black Metal a lot of times. This is one of the few, rare bands I would tag as "Atmospheric Death Metal", as they create a horrifying, genuinely scary atmosphere consistent throughout the album. The music has a sense of urgency, being involved in an escape from a demonic fiend chasing you through a labyrinth. One of the main reasons being the extensive use of tremolo riffs and underlying keyboard, which is neither dominant nor too underpowered to notice, and give the album a Black Metal feel to it. The drums are a sidelined component in the music though they blast away most of the time, but add to the already morbid atmosphere, slowing down when necessary, but avoid being repetitive will rolls and fill in the right places.
One very noticeable element of the music is the inclusion of a "slam" section in the songs. Those slams are very unlike what one would hear in a Brutal Death Metal song. They are surprisingly atmospheric and scary. The fast and "urgent" sense of music ends at this point - the demon has caught you and there is no escaping it now. The mentioned "slam" sections are especially prominent in the title song and songs like Chamber of Reunion and Braded Into Palsy.
The highlight of the album would be Jason Oliver's vocals. The vocals are like no other, and are the main reason this album isn't for the weak-hearted. The growls and especially the shrieks do not sound like they originate from a human larynx. There is no other way to describe the vocals, so I'll leave it to this, though I'll add a picture that perfectly describes the "thing" doing the vocals.
Yes, he is THAT badass.
Overall, this album is one of the best Death Metal releases of all time, and manages to be what Death Metal was all about in the first place - horror, morbidity, and brutality all encapsulated in the form of music, and this album perfectly fits all 3 descriptions.
Highlights: To The Depths (In Degradation), Braded Into Palsy, Chamber of Reunion, Excoriation Killz The Bliss
Rating: 9 out of 10.
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