ALBUM REVIEW: Heaven Wept – Inferi

There’s no gentle easing into Heaven Wept, the latest album from tech-death heroes INFERI. It hits you with a frenzied mix of complex riffs, guttural growls, and pummelling blast beats in the first seconds of The Rapture Of Dead Light, and doesn’t ease off for the next thirty eight minutes. It’s a vicious album, so pummelling that it feels longer than it actually is, and one of the nastiest of the year so far. But what is a surprise, is that gets strangely moving at times.

And that’s not just odd for INFERI themselves, but for their chosen genre as a whole. By its very nature, tech-death can feel very clinical and emotionless. It’s tricky to convey empathy when playing with time signatures or growling at the lowest possible register, but INFERI manage it. Heaven Wept is cold and robotic on the first listen, but little shoots of melancholy creep through on successive plays. The second half of Eternally Lie is a tortured scream of fragility over some spiralling, evocative melodies, and they have the incredible skill of making certain notes cut deep. This is not an emo record by any stretch of the imagination, but there is life pulsing beneath the sleek metal exoskeleton.

However, INFERI are first and foremost a technical death metal band, and there’s enough noodling to threaten Buldak’s second-quarter financial report. There is some exquisite guitar work to be found here, such as the solo on the title track that’s strangely reminiscent of dancing across the surface of the sun, neatly offset by the dirtiest caveman breakdown mere seconds later.

Best of the bunch though is probably Atonement Denied, a late album highlight that condenses everything INFERI do well into one fiendish, five-and-a-half-minute blast. It is preposterously heavy, features a charismatic performance from vocalist Stevie Boiser, and climaxes in apocalyptic fashion. Plus, there’s a certain tragic vibe undercutting the final moments, and it adds to the atmosphere.

All things considered, Heaven Wept might be the best work of INFERI’s career so far. It’s a record that’s had a tremendous amount of effort put into it, and their skill as musicians is enviable. These songs are well-written and memorable and there’s a lot to commend.

The catch is that as much as we enjoyed Heaven Wept, it’s very much a genre piece. The death metal kids are going to freaking love this, but there is also a glass ceiling that they might struggle to break through. INFERI’s record sales and mainstream prospects are unlikely to grow, but that’s not really an issue for anyone outside the band’s inner circle. This is flawlessly executed, expertly crafted death metal, and it’ll tickle your grey matter as much as your neck muscles.

Rating: 8/10

Heaven Wept is out now via The Artisan Era. 

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