Reinfection
Peace Through Killing
8.3
Insanely catchy death metal is what we have here on the new disc from Reinfection, Peace Through Killing. A comparison to Napalm Death would not be unwarranted, and though Reinfection also draws a big influence from the brutal death scene, catchy grooves that lock into the listener’s head surface constantly. This album is actually a bit of an amalgam, because I detect elements of grindcore, old school death metal, and modern brutal death metal, often all within the same song. Reinfection’s ability to combine these elements into a convincing whole is what makes this album especially appealing. In fact, I could recommend Peace Through Killing to fans of any of the three genres I named. Here’s a confident group of musicians who know what they are doing, and who keep the listener interested throughout.
Peace Through Killing has so many awesome moments that I’m not even going to try to list them, but I must point out that the breakdown on “An Institute of Bloody Anatomy” is absolutely devastating. The first five tracks, two of which are covers, gave me the impression that this would be straightforward old school death/grind, but the rest of the cuts were based around the combination of styles that I mentioned previously, although the band members simply describe the group as grindcore. I later learned that this is a collection of sorts, with tracks 6-15, which are the best, being taken from a previous album, “They Die For Nothing,” with 1-5 being new material. What impresses me is how adept Reinfection are at both blasting and crafting punishing grooves. Above all, this is a fun record, and I had a huge grin plastered across my face the whole time I was listening to this – the fact that the song titles display a tenuous grasp of the English language only helped things.
Musically, this album is executed with the utmost precision. The drumming matches the guitar work beat for beat, and the patterns are highly involved and complex. The guitar parts are both technical and thoroughly catchy. Solos surface very sporadically, and the ones that are there highlight the guitarist’s ability to craft winding, serpentine licks that dizzy the listener. The bass is nice and audible, and it contributes a lot to the slower sections. The vocals are well-performed, with a good mix between low, throaty grunts ‘n’ growls, and higher screeches. Additionally, the guitar tone is meaty and utterly pulverizing, and the low vocals are enough to make my speakers rumble. In short, a commendable recording job. It all sounds much more live and organic than most death metal that’s being released these days, but none of the clarity is lost.
I recently visited Poland and it seems to be a country full of nice, well-adjusted people. I don’t know how it came to be a death metal capital, but the citizens certainly have a penchant for churning out crushing, technically adept material. Reinfection are a great find; they’re on top of their game. I didn’t expect much, but I’m now willing to encourage any fan of death metal to pick up this release.
