AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): MIASMIC SERUM — “INFECTED SEED”

Let’s ponder for a moment the name of the Italian band whose debut album we’re about to premiere. “Miasmic” is an adjective that refers to an unpleasant and oppressive atmosphere, or an odor that is noxious and foul. In this context “serum” would seem to refer to a fluid or exhalation that is itself foul, or when administered would produce the feeling of miasma, though perhaps it also might be interpreted as a means of treating miasma.

Of course, the serum being administered by this Italian death metal trio, whether noxious itself and/or curative, is music. Further clues to the nature of the musical serum might be found in the title of the album — Infected Seed — and in the names of songs such as “Near-Death Visions”, “Lethal Bite”, and “Lost Control”. Even one of the interlude tracks on the album is named “Neurotoxic Venom”.

Fittingly, the album will be released (on June 14th) by labels named Night Terrors Records and Chaos Records. In addition to all these clues about the inspiration for the music, we also have the following insights provided by Miasmic Serum, the band itself:

Photo by Giorgio Silvestri

The main concept of our debut record Infected Seed is related to poisoning, intoxication on the whole, toxic plants, animal venoms, and even personal previous psycho-nautical experiences. By taking direct personal experiences into account, the album intro “Auditory Hallucinations” was written after a sort of “bad trip”, we thought that was the perfect way to start the record, and with it we enriched the whole venomous concept we are based on.

The lyrics take inspiration mainly from the revisited Aldous Huxley and Terence Mckenna‘s literary works, between dystopian fiction and psychedelic culture, which is also based on the use of sacred plants. Furthermore, other major themes are the Eleusinian mysteries of Ancient Greece and the shamanic traditions of the peoples of South America. Enjoy this journey, and get poisoned!

So now, the nature of the music becomes more intriguing, does it not? Something perhaps more multi-faceted than disgusting death metal? We should further note that the two entwined snakes in the band’s logo depict the Caduceus symbol, which represents a lethal dose, and the therapeutic one.

But let’s now move on to the music itself, shall we?

That opening track, “Auditory Hallucinations“, was performed by Giorgio Trombino, and it is indeed a hallucinatory and unsettling collage of woozy, wailing, skittering, and slashing sounds — and the gnashing of beasts might be heard there as well. It’s just enough to begin putting your nerves on edge and scrambling your brain before Miasmic Serum launch into “Near-Death Visions“.

As the first full sign of what the band have cooked up for Infected Seed, it is indeed oppressive and poisonous, and it also continues the hallucinatory brain-scrambling initiated by the opening track.  The riffing insidiously writhes, savagely slashes, and violently convulses. The guitars seethe and whine, sizzle and screech, swirl and soar, altogether creating sensations of malignancy and madness.

Meanwhile, the bass adds thundering weight in the low end and the drumming is constantly in flux, shifting both the tempo and the percussive patterns in electrifying fashion, and the words come forth in gutturals that are monstrous and screams that are deranged, and yet well-enunciated.

The whole song is in fact electrifying, and produced in a way that makes the sounds piercing yet powerful, a nice balance between mind-lacerating clarity and flesh-eating harshness, coupled with gut-busting power.

In the songs to come, Miasmic Serum reinforce the impression of a group who’ve taken inspiration from American death metal of the early ’90s and have a formidable talent for writing music that’s both maniacal and viscerally propulsive, indeed toxic and gruesome but also groovesome and head-spinning in its permutations.

The vocals are perpetually crazed across a wide range of expressions — bellowing from the belly and wildly yelling. And for added terror, Miasmic Serum brought in Jason Netherton from Misery Index as screaming guest vocalist on the thuggish, lysergic, and deranged “Mortal Training“, and Fiore Stravino of Fulci to add vocal monstrosity to the album’s title track at the end of the record, a song that includes a slowly slithering melody that’s haunting as well as viperous.

Moreover, throughout the album the soloing is gloriously wild, continually reaching heights of psychedelic delirium; the grooves are capable of jolting like full-throttle jackhammers and pounding with primitive brutality; and the riffing cuts like overheating circle saws, swarms like the feeding frenzies of carnivorous insects, and sometimes vigorously bounces like some kind of industrial mechanism that’s stitching steel.

On top of all that, the drumming is itself a non-stop fireworks display, or rather an extravagant demonstration of high-powered munitions for the perusal of merchants of death.

There’s one well-placed break in the action, that little interlude called “Neurotoxic Venom“, where you’ll learn something about the venom of the black mamba, as a prelude to the berserk mauling and spinal obliteration provided by “Lethal Bite” and the ensuing musical slaughter that proceeds over the course of “Brain Walls” and “Lost Control“.

There’s one more surprising interlude after that — “Ancient Initiation Rite” performed by Alberto Dal Bo — an elegant, mysterious, and classically influenced instrumental piece, which seamlessly ushers you right into the final gauntlet of the title song.

You can tell this writer has found Infected Seed damned thrilling, indeed one of the most thrilling and accomplished death metal assaults of the year so far, a well-written and expertly executed administration of venom, evisceration, and skeletal trauma, with psychoactive nuances that help set it out near the front of the pack, shoulder-to-shoulder with bands who’ve been around a lot longer. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

 

 

MIASMIC SERUM Lineup:
Gabriele Marchioni – Drums and Lyrics
Julian Serrato – Vocals, Bass
Vanny Piccoli – Guitars, Vocals

Infected Seed was recorded in Treviso, Italy, by Andrea Condotta (Deep Sound Recording Studio), Francesco Chissalé, and Giovanni Pezzato (Alter Recording Studio). Giovanni Pezzato also mixed and mastered the album.

It features striking artwork and illustrations by Colombian artist Julian Raul Mora Ibañez, and credit for Miasmic Serum‘s logos goes to View From The Coffin.

Night Terrors Records will release the album on tape; Chaos Records will release it on CD; and it’s also available digitally from the labels and the band. They recommend it for fans of: Malevolent Creation, Morbid Angel, and Skeletal Remains. Check the links below for more info and to pre-order.

NIGHT TERRORS RECORDS:
https://night-terrors-records.net/
https://night-terrors-records.bandcamp.com/album/miasmic-serum-infected-seed
https://www.instagram.com/night_terrors_records/

CHAOS RECORDS:
https://www.chaos-records.com/
https://chaos-records.bandcamp.com/album/infected-seed
https://www.instagram.com/chaosrecs/

MIASMIC SERUM:
https://miasmicserum.bandcamp.com/album/infected-seed
https://www.instagram.com/miasmicserum/
https://www.facebook.com/miasmicserum