ALBUM REVIEW: The Elysian Grandeval Galeriarch – Infant Annihilator

Being a band that has relegated itself to the studio only can be a very enflaming prospect to some listeners. Sure, music is intrinsically grounded in the live performance, which is a statement that everybody can wholly agree upon. However, there are things that you can do in the studio which the live performance simply will not account for or do justice. And INFANT ANNIHILATOR shows you how you can take musical exploration to new levels with an hour long monstrous piece full of chaotic solos and dark atmospheres. And yes. They still sing about paedophiles and how bad religion is.

The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution is a much easier, arguably more straightforward, listen in comparison to The Elysian Grandeval Galeriarch (TEGG) mainly because so many new territories are bastardised, and in a good way that’s for sure. Main port of call is the new vocalist Dickie Allen who quite simply makes Travis Ryan sound like a gospel singer. Dickie’s performance on this record is nothing short of pure filth, from vomiting cave witch style highs to the most earth rumbling lows whilst at the same time executing quick-fire rap style vocal patterns that perpetuate every syllable perfectly without compromising his vocal range. This can be described as anything but impressive, almost utilising his vocals as another instrument as it were, fuelling the aggression of the music to another level of carnal fury when worked alongside the rest of the instruments.

The drum patterns are of course insane, whether you agree on the use of technology or not. Believe it or not, you’ll be surprised to hear that this is in fact the point of INFANT ANNIHILATOR‘s music. The speeds of the blast beats/kick drums etc are integral and purposeful in the creation of such blisteringly blasphemous hammerings, and if you can cast aside any predisposition towards this approach to drums, you’ll find it is actually wholly satisfying to listen to, much to that of AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED.

What is highly apparent from the offset however, is the change in music writing on TEGG. Even from the intro track, Dickie begins to demonstrate his vocal stylings over a dark atmospheric guitar piece. This is repeated over the course of the record, with even classical styled arpeggio sweeps and guitar leads weaving a feeling of bottomless despair. As prominent are the members in their endeavours in other acts such as BLACK TONGUE, these influences have also crept into the new album where many of the breakdown riffs could very easily pass off as BLACK TONGUE pieces, as well as the crazy RINGS OF SATURN styled widdily technical parts. This however does get old pretty fast, especially the repeated blast-breakdown-blast-breakdown sequences on numbers such as Behold The Kingdom of The Wretched Undying. Nonetheless, the new music on the record is at the very basis more dynamic and more progressive than previous.

While they are a marmite act, there are many different reasons why you should definitely love them. Mainly because this record is on many unholy levels of heaviness that you should definitely get on.

Rating: 8/10

The Elysian Grandeval Galeriarch is set for release on July 29th via self release.

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