Infesticide - Envenoming Wounds
Blood Harvest Records
Death Metal
9 songs (29:27)
Release year: 2020
Reviewed by Goat

Playing an aggressive, South American-flavoured style of Morbid Angelian death metal, Mexican trio Infesticide burst onto the scene with 2016's Death's Formulas Fatal, and Envenoming Wounds isn't so much more of the same as a slight refinement. It's packed with short (two to three minute), angry songs that weave together the twisty riffing and audible bass atop the drum battery while vocalist Isaías spews out snarls like a revitalised David Vincent, between squealing solos that appear and dive-bomb the listener before widdling out again. It's charmingly rough around the edges, with a production that's murkier than it needs to be and that gives the drums an oddly artificial sound. One track even ends with a stray drum hit, although this is very obviously not due to amateurism or poor playing - just a surfeit of enthusiasm, which is no bad thing.

And you can tell that the band love this music, and their influences. Quite apart from the song titles, there are even widdly Azagthothian instrumentals at the mid and end of the album, the outro Ageless Storms downright obnoxious with it and the minute-plus Acid Lava absolutely skippable. Songs otherwise are either under or overwritten, with far too many riff-changes and not enough shifts in the other instruments, but they're a lot of fun, careening and chaotic and joyful, the death metal equivalent of last week's Körgull the Exterminator. And sure, it's immediately apparent that Infesticide are far better when barrelling along at full speed than playing with attempts at atmospherics. Fortunately, examples of this are dominant, from the opening title track with its relatively ambitious riffing changes to the furious Phosphovore, a downright tribute to Altars of Madness.

And these tracks do all pile atop one another, and make Envenoming Wounds something of an unvaried listen. Which isn't really a problem, given that its just under half an hour in length, but that can make it difficult to recommend outside of genre enthusiasts. Despite that, any death metal fan will find the likes of Magma Blood thrilling, Krisiun-esque torrential venom with plenty of lead guitar widdles, or Stalwart, Poisonous and Buried's churning riffery, a little slower and more intense, and something that the band could build on with a little more time and experience. Currently, Infesticide are completely unprogressive, with no attempt to be anything more than a wholehearted tribute and love-letter to the metal they love, and the result is a short but sweet album with limited but wholehearted appeal.

Killing Songs :
Phosphovore, Magma Blood, Stalwart Poisonous and Buried
Goat quoted 70 / 100
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