Infernal Requiem
Pantheon
4.6
Black metal from the Dominican Republic? Is this even possible? Apparently. Pantheon is Infernal Requiem’s second release, if memory serves. Although referred to as an EP, it’s 37 minutes in duration - easily long enough to be considered a full length. Filled with keyboards, acoustic interludes, and melodic picking, the band plays symphonic black metal.
They're a Cradle of Filth rip-off without the refinement and with a drum machine. They have sort of a bouncier sound though and more folky leanings, as well as more of a tendency towards melody. Featuring a high pitched screech and low grumbling growls, the vocals on Infernal Requiem sound slightly amateur and flimsy but still accomplish what they've set out to do. The changes, which occur multiple times throughout each song, are fairly melodramatic and ineffective. The guitar solos are sloppy, but you can hear whoever's behind the instrument has a good ear for melody and the skill to match. They just sound like bad takes, and the production doesn't save from some of the few cutouts and wrong notes. It's not exactly dazzling, seeing as how the solo in the first track, "Novem Portae", takes nearly two minutes. “Midnight's Opera” begins with far more promise than the previous track, however, the poor taste in drum samples hinders the sound incredibly. The dual vocals have poor dialogue together, as they sound like they were recorded at independent times while listening to different songs. Whether or not they’re real, I’m unsure of, but the violins that enter towards the last two thirds of the track I’d love to hear more of. They actually give a little character to their sound and almost allow me to recover from the shock of the incredibly loud low speaking voice that makes a random appearance.
I see in their press photo that there are nine people in this band, but what the hell are they all doing? I can’t imagine why so many people are involved in the making of this music. I’m almost afraid of giving this an honest review now out of fear that Infernal Requiem just hasn’t pictured the other forty members of the band, and that I’ll have a small army completely livid towards me.
Whether their COF jocking is intentional or not, this band has some serious improvement to do. With their ten and eight minute long songs, getting through one in its entirety proves to be a fairly daunting task. I have no idea how this managed to get released with the mindblowing oversights in production. My criticisms aside, if they can manage to muster up some distinction and innovation, or maybe change styles altogether (my advice), they could make some sort of impact on their next release - they have the instrumental proficiency. So, although not nearly that bad for an unsigned band, not that good, either.
