OUR LIST OF 2014’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 8

 

Here we have Part 8 of our continuing list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

Since this is the last day of the year, it seems like a good time to take stock of our progress on this list. Only problem is, I have no fuckin’ idea where we are. After today I’ll have rolled out 17 songs, but I don’t know whether we’re halfway through or a third of the way or only a quarter deep. So let’s just keep going, shall we?

INFESTUS

In a word, the latest album by Germany’s Infestus — The Reflecting Void — was (and is) stunning. Andy Synn concluded his review of the album with these words:

““The beautiful, unforgettable cover art embodies the album so well – this is music from the darkest depths of the human mind, a black, malignant tumour of pain and anguish which spreads its tendrils widely to encompass a host of dark emotions and warped musical influences, creating a truly immersive, unforgettable experience.”

The music on the album is intricate and multi-faceted, both introspective and aggressive, haunting and majestic, wrenching and ravenous. Perhaps no one song better sums up the extravagant talents of this one-man band than the one I’m adding to this list today (which bears a genius of a title).

You have to wait almost two minutes before “Constant Soul Corrosion” delivers the driving riff that earned the song its place on this list — and it’s not the only massively infectious riff in this song. But what surrounds those potent monoliths is just as beguiling.

As a massive headbang trigger, this song rivals the Infestus track from 2011’s  E x | I s t that I put on our “most infectious” list for that year — “Down Spiral Depersonification”. And that’s no mean feat. Enjoy one of my favorite songs of the year:

https://www.facebook.com/infestus.official
https://dmp666.bandcamp.com/album/the-reflecting-void

 

 

 

 

 

LORD MANTIS

Death Mask is just a phenomenal album. For something as ugly, abrasive, and unforgiving as it often is, it’s also immensely powerful on a very primal level. And for me, at least, the music is also unforgettable (not that I try to forget it). It cuts to the bone, it rattles your complacency, it wakens things in the recesses of your mind that might be better off left sleeping. But the music pulls you back to itself, like quicksand.

After fixating for a while on “Negative Birth”, I thought I had finally settled on “Possession Prayer” as the song for this list. There’s something about that track’s ritualistic drumbeat and the vicious chanting of “blood, rust, incinerate” that I can’t get enough of. It’s also the soundtrack to one of the best (and most disturbing) music videos of the year — one we featured on the site earlier this month, but has now been removed by YouTube “as a violation of YouTube’s policy on nudity or sexual content”. Douchebags. (P.S. It has just been restored, on Vimeo — here).

But in recent days my brother BadWolf pushed me to give “Three Crosses” a second chance. I did that, and then went on to spin it repeatedly — to the point where I’m convinced that it’s the song that belongs on this list. Of course, if you ask me again next week, I’ll probably name a different one.

The drumming throughout this album is staggering; in this song in particular, it commands attention, and it’s a big reason why the song is so infectious. But there is much to this long song besides the drum work, such as the utterly wrenching vocals and flashes of truly sublime guitar melody. It’s an impressively dynamic piece of music, and before it reaches its explosive final section you may even find yourself… momentarily… entranced.

https://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com/album/death-mask
https://www.facebook.com/lordmantisofficial