Infernal Realm is a death metal band from Seattle, Washington who formed in 2017; “Chamber of Desolation” is their full-length debut album.
This band and album comes seemingly out of nowhere, a surprise attack in the night from an apex predator that has been waiting patiently in the shadows. Unlike a lot of “revival” bands that worship at the altar of late 80’s/early 90’s death metal, this band takes a slightly more modern approach and echoes the underrated greatness that is 2000’s era of death metal.
The album isn’t anything flashy and it’s not going to reinvent the wheel. But it does offer an intense ride that doesn’t let up for its 8 song, 37 minute run time. This is the perfect length for such a style and it goes by quickly so this album does have a lot of replay value.
It’s also catchy as hell, having more earworms on it than any album this heavy as a right to be. The riffs are solid as hell, the bass and drums make a rhythm section that rumbles as it grooves, and the vocals have a classic deep, throaty growl with abrasive screams thrown in for good measure.
The production is immaculate–loud but not overly with enough grit to reclaim the darkness they are honoring without the instruments being buried under unnecessary rawness.
In essence, this is just one of those albums that doesn’t have any bad songs, is solid start to finish, and moves along smoothly as music like this can.
Although the songs offer enough differences to set themselves apart, the opening salvo of “Black Millenia” will give a pretty damn good idea of what the rest of the album has to offer. It also showcases another element of the album I enjoy: no pretentious fluff. Intros? Nope. Interludes? Not here. Ambience and atmospheric keys? Nah. Poppy clean choruses with breakdowns? Don’t need them.
I’m not saying there is anything wrong with those things and I’m certainly not saying I don’t enjoy bands that use those elements but not every band has use for them. Sometimes I just want my head caved in with 100% certified death fucking metal. This first track supplies this and the rest keep refilling the tank.
The title track hits like a freight train; before 15 seconds has passed, the song is thick with double bass, groovy guitars, and low growls. The drums definitely help steer the song from freight train to “unbelievably heavy” for most of the song. Still, the guitars have their own arsenal, especially the kick ass guitar solo around a quarter of the way through. The riffs afterwards are a battering ram, breaking the song into pieces.
My favorite part of the song are the more intricate riffs during the halfway mark that fire off their notes as the high pitched death screams shred out the lyrics. The energy of this song is palpable and the final solo grabs onto it and pushes it further.
“Fastened To The Rats,” is one of my favorites. The riffs were stuck in my head for a while. I love how this band is THE definition of death metal but isn’t afraid to write riffs that I actually will remember more than two seconds later. They are brutal but also more than that. The song, and the band in general, is at its best when the vocal bursts out of a pit of riffs before diving back and letting the lead guitar shine. It’s a good three prong attack and it never fails.
The final song, “Into Obscurity,” is a fantastic opener—it’s one of the fattest, most violent songs on the album and finishes it off with a bang. The drums and bass are particularly impressive here, a constant bombastic explosion of seething rage. From the 2:42 mark to 3:00 mark, the guitars enter a riff fest that, in turn, leads to a melodic section with a slower tempo and impressive vocal prowess. Hell of a song!
All in all, Infernal Realm’s “Chamber of Desolation,” took me by surprise. It offers a solid death metal experience that checks off all the boxes that makes the genre great. I don’t see why any fan of extreme metal wouldn’t like this album. Get on it.
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