Before I say anything else about this album I have to say one thing,
The Infection includes one of the best Metal instrumental tracks of
all time “The Heart Of It All”. Big call I know, but I haven’t heard
anything that has impressed me this much since Metallica’s “Orion”
it is an absolute Metal masterpiece. It has an awesome clean guitar
intro that is a David Gilmour meets Metallica with strings backing
and Kirk Hammett style melodies flowing over the top before
launching into a fierce Metal riff after a couple of minutes. It has a lot
of dynamics and changes which I think prompted the Metallica
comparison. The drumming is amazing on this album, it really
makes the riffs ultra tight and makes this track in particular sound
amazing.
The opening track on the album “The Venom Inside” is also quite an
epic sounding track with a minute intro which sounds very theatrical
with multiple layered guitars but then kicks into one of the best riffs
on the album with its whammy dive and odd harmony before
switching to the crazy double-kick chorus. Great way to open the
album. Another of my favourite tracks from the album is “Impending
Doom” which begins with a throbbing keyboard bass sound and
mysterious sounding effects creating an eerie feel. I really like the
main riff which uses contrary motion to create extra depth and
sounds very cool. All the tracks sound like they would be fun to play
live, except for the drummer whose legs must take an absolute
beating every gig! Another great track is “Coming Alive” which has
some cool solo riffs over the super fast chugging riff in the
background.
I still really like the last album Resurrection but when you A/B
tracks from Resurrection and The Infection you can hear the
difference in production. Resurrection sounds a little flat in
comparison, The Infection has so much depth, the guitars are
panned hard and everything seems to have more space in the mix
which is maybe due to them using Zeuss to mix the album after
recording was complete. I’m not sure all of the tracks are
necessarily better, Resurrection was a tough album to follow as
there were so many great tracks, but it is definitely a strong release.
The guitar playing on this album is as always brilliant, I reviewed
Rob Arnold’s instructional DVD recently which gave me great insight
into Rob’s playing and technique. He is a very precise player with
great picking accuracy, worth checking that video out he also
comes across as a very down to earth nice bloke. The vocals are a
bit screamy I really prefer the Mastodon style of vocals but that is
just personal preference, it certainly won’t stop me listening to this
album it is a monster release and if you like Metal I highly
recommend it.
Review by Guitar Noize
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