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GRAVE INFESTATION
Persecution Of The Living

Invictus Productions (2022)
Rating: 8/10

After two impressive demo recordings – Infesticide (2018) and Infestation Of Rotting Death (2019) – it was only a matter of time that a full-length opus from these Canadian deathsters would emerge. And here it is, an album full of dank yet blazing rotten extreme metal.

The expected cavernous, damp air soaks the production of Persecution Of The Living like a wet blanket thrown over a corpse to hide its grotesque, decomposed features. And yet within that sodden, miserable aura there’s those raging riffs, coughed up cyst vocals and the foul solos that permeate the grim gauze like a seed of life squirming through the peat bog.

Whether as a pacey or slow, doomy entity, Grave Infestation exists in an organic state. The prime example being the unhinged maze of morbidity that is ‘Slaughter, Then Slaughter’, a groggy, oozing exhibition of the fetid from its dreary percussive traits to the sickly bass rumbles and then those faster, aggressive froths of putrefaction.

As the murky demo compositions proved, this is a band that effortlessly slips from grisly, mid-tempo suspense to thrashier chimes. Imagine a mix then of classic Master and the more recent yet brilliant Mutilate, whereby catchy chugs marry with spiteful, seething segments.

The brilliant title track rushes like a congealed tide of fetid foam riddled with intense percussion, and then those sinister bass slaps that drench us in doomy substances as vocalist GC plumbs the depths of his own lungs to burst another blood vessel in order to bring us a sickening howl of the macabre.

The horror-splattered slabs of doom unravel alongside those buzzsaw expressions. ‘Can You See A Pale Horseman In The Distance?’ retaliates with an Obituary-cum-Swedish lashing, while another favourite is ‘Human Jigsaw Puzzle’ with its slow, grinding hammer blows and John Tardy-esque snarls.

‘Plague Of Crypts’ resurrects the corpse of Autopsy circa Mental Funeral (1991), where the weird, wild solos swirl from the dark depths like corpse vapours emitted from a maggot-lined orifice.

Blasts of Finnish-styled death metal also exist throughout this volatile composition, but Grave Infestation is more than happy to pay homage to the gory traits expressed by the classic bands of the 80s and early 90s too as ‘Death Of The Last Individual’ comes gnashing with frenzied delight. ‘Eternal Oblivion’ (which appeared on the Infestation Of Rotting Death demo alongside ‘Human Jigsaw Puzzle’) is equally rampant in its design, spitting blubbery chunks of Swedish purulence alongside ghastlier, reaching heaps of the wretched and propelled onwards into gloom by those crazed leads.

Persecution Of The Living was always going to deliver mould-specked, classy death metal boasting a pastiche of references. The guys do exactly what is inscribed on the coffin, so there’s no reason not to lift the lid, jump in and become one with the soil of this pungent debut.

Neil Arnold

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