ALBUM REVIEW: Rites of the Nameless – Infera Bruo

INFERA BRUO‘s name translates to “Hellish Noise”, and you’d be hard pressed to find a more fitting moniker for what this band is all about. The the Boston-based quartet coupling an especially savage and primal take on black metal with some incredibly heady progressive elements, giving them a powerful and memorable sound. INFERA BRUO have, since their 2009 formation, gone from strength to strength, with each subsequent release being better than the last. Their latest, fourth album, Rites of the Nameless, sees the band reach their creative zenith to date, with their music being arguably the best it’s been, establishing them as one of the top acts within the US black metal underground.

The Breath of Chaos is initially very straight forward, with a few jarring chords slipping into the fray as it gathers momentum. The mix of tight tremolo leads, juddering rhythms and vocals that range from feral shrieks to sonorous chants, gradually transforms this song from a fierce offering to a dark, murky one with plenty of great, progressive flourishes. Latent Foe Arcane takes the more frenzied and expansive sound of the previous songs closing minutes and develops it, with a technical edge courtesy of the drums, bass and rhythm guitars, counterpointed with far more focused leads and acerbic howls that help keep the music anchored well within black metal. The more experimental side of the INFERA BRUO sound is more evident here, with imaginative, intricate hooks and plenty of time changes resulting in an engrossing and impressive track.

Frayed, a far punchier affair than the first two, utilises a more ethereal guitar tone to build a deeply atmospheric, hypnotic sound that immediately hooks the listener, with the acidic snarl of the vocals injecting a biting quality to the much more restrained, almost post-black approach of the music, making for an interesting change of pace that pays off.

Cimmerian Shade sees electronic music begin to make an appearance, creating a mesmerising opener for a thoroughly monolithic piece of music. The guitars and drums in particular lend a huge sound to this track, punctuated by energetic, chaotic passages that contrast sharply with the epic ones. The vocals vary, with a brilliant, chanted motif that leads into the song’s second half doing a magnificent job of shifting the tone of the music towards a lighter, angelic feel, something that elevates this song above those the preceded it. Mining Shadows for Unlight, another short, sharp shock of a song, proves to be arguably the most aggressive and cacophonous number on the album, with the frenetic pace of the drums laying the foundations for equally rabid guitars, peppered liberally with adventurous melodies and slower, more primitive moments, which bring the song grinding to halt before launching back into the more bestial fare that defines this songs sound.

Rites of the Nameless is the apex of the bands progressive side, a slow-burning, brooding tour-de-force with lots of inspired musicianship, jumping from a primal style of black metal to incredibly inventive, experimental parts, especially when it comes to the guitars and the weighty electronica that closes the song. The vocals match the sudden musical shifts with their own, with hellish howls vying with those as always fantastic clean chants to build a song that is vocally, not just musically, the most ambitious offering on the record, and an amazing conclusion to it as well.

Unlike many bands who adopt a progressive edge to their style to distinguish themselves from their musical peers, INFERA BRUO do a great job of blending some impressive and intriguing elements into their music whilst keeping firmly rooted within black metal, as opposed to throwing in something outlandish and experimental merely for its own sake. All of the music works together as a cohesive whole, with the progressive flourishes adding to, rather than distracting from, the rest of the tracks. The use of electronic sections and soaring chanted vocals in particular work exceptionally well, and it would have been great for that side of the band’s sound to have been explored more on this record, as it worked extremely well when it did come into play. It will be incredibly interesting to see how INFERA BRUO are able to surpass the lofty bar they have set for themselves with this record.

Rating: 9/10

Rites Of The Nameless is out now via Prosthetic Records.

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