The US is certainly not lacking in impressively technical and blisteringly abrasive death metal bands at the moment, with the extreme metal underground having something of a creative resurgence in the last few years and producing some of the most impressive death metal in recent memory in the process. One of the bands at the forefront of this shift towards stunning musicianship tempered by cacophonous flourishes is New Jersey’s REPLICANT; the band’s first two albums – 2018’s Negative Life and 2021’s Malignant Reality – along with a fantastic split with fellow harsh trailblazers CRYPTIC SHIFT, INOCULATION and ASTRAL TOMB, have established their place as one of the most frenetic and subtly progressive bands within American death metal. The band’s latest album Infinite Mortality ups the ante on all fronts, making it without question their belligerent magnum opus.
Acid Mirror kicks things off with a meaty slab of dissonant death metal with brilliant, chaotic flourishes, hitting the listener with an intense aural assault right out the gate. The guitars provide a visceral focal point around which authoritative drumming and acerbic vocals are woven, adding to the demented quality that permeates throughout this whole track, making this an unhinged and varied opening salvo. Shrine To The Incomprehensible picks up seamlessly where the preceding track left off, with jarring riffs and a frenetic approach to drumming doubling down on the former’s overarching ferocity, whilst inserting huge, sludgy basslines and bellicose vocals into the fray, which complement the searing musicianship extremely well. In amongst the harshness and the muscular rhythms though, the avant-garde touches that were previously hinted at come prominently to the fore, injecting an ethereal, immersive edge into proceedings.
Orgasm Of Bereavement, a relatively short, sharp shock in comparison with the last two offerings, couples discordant guitar work, energetic percussion and noxious vocals with a blistering pace punctuated by swampy crawls to provide a condensed version of the outright cacophony that featured earlier, whilst adding slicker, melodic leads into the mix, making this accessible without sacrificing any of the vitriol. Reciprocal Abandonment, a slower affair with an atmospheric sound, sees the fast and feral elements stripped away, showing a cavernous, imposing style that doesn’t focus solely on technicality to drive the music, serving as a powerful but utterly primal twist on this album’s formula that sees the progressive parts of the band’s sound carry the music. SCN9A, a fleeting instrumental interlude centred upon minimalistic electronic ambience, breaks up the unrelenting aggression of this album’s two halves perfectly, and serves as a brilliant segue into what follows.
Pain Enduring, with its biting riffs, blends together chunky brutal death metal with a darker, rabid zeal, being every bit as domineering as earlier efforts whilst bringing in catchy riffs and elements from old school death metal, serving as a punchier addition, not unlike Orgasm Of Bereavement, but with a greater emphasis on polished leads and a tighter, more structured kind of songwriting. Nekrotunnel continues in a similar vein, with focused, galloping sections with equally defined hooks from the guitars that provide a weighty groove whilst retaining the core bestial bent, with the monstrous, barking vocals providing an emphatic, primitive roar over the top of what is arguably one of the most straightforward yet effective songs on the album.
Dwelling On The Threshold is a brief burst of brutality that shifts towards a rhythmic approach with significantly less virtuosic leads and fills, interspersed with well placed experimental touches, defining the route the music takes and showing that things don’t have to move at a breakneck pace to grab the listener’s attention. Planet Of Skin, the final, monolithic offering on this record, is a fantastically searing, piece of music that expertly ties together the slicker, memorable components of songs like Nekrotunnel with the visceral stylings of this album’s harsher and more experimental moments. It effortlessly blends the whole spectrum of the band’s eclectic sound into a single, expansive song, shifting from a mid-tempo, weighty sound towards a far more sinister and disjointed affair driven by adventurous guitars, punishing rhythms, and particularly coarse growling vocals, all of which make even the subdued portions feel gargantuan.
Infinite Mortality sees REPLICANT‘s sound take on a much fuller and more well-defined shape, with the band being noticeably confident and adventurous with their music, especially when it comes to the visceral and rabid touches. Where the band’s most recent album before this, Malignant Reality, was definitely not without its abrasive qualities and progressive flourishes, the emphasis was still firmly centred on elements such as groove and a fairly rigid approach to a more coherent structure, whereas here the music on all fronts cuts loose and takes bolder, more inspired steps, not only making this much harder than its predecessor, but also far more frenetic. If the band’s first two albums grew their reputation, this album cements it, and stands as a brilliant statement on just how bellicose and stringent death metal can be when it’s done well.
Rating: 9/10
Infinite Mortality is out now via Transcending Obscurity Records.
Like REPLICANT on Facebook.