Dutch thrash/death metalband Infantry has released their second album last week, Terminal Society. And we are thrilled to give it a listen! Infantry is known for uptempo thrash and getting the party going. The release of their first album ‘Make war not love’ was allready 5 years ago, so it was definately time for some new tracks. The band previously released Terminal Society as a single, but now they are back with over half an hour of brootal music. Let’s dive into it!
Traanbaard contacted me to review the re-release of their 2015 EP ‘De Schaal Van Hardheid’. Of course we love to comply with that request. Traanbaard is an Amsterdam-based thrash/deathmetal band who distinquish themselves from other acts by having Dutch-only vocals. De Schaal Van Hardheid was the first EP by the band and after releasing their debut album ‘Doodziek’ they decided to update the artwork and release the EP again. Let’s give this redux album a listen.
Elan Vital is the debut album of Anchillys, a one-man project by Andy Wit. There aren’t that many artists that are talented enough to create and record an entire album on their own, but Andy has certainly managed to do exceptionally well. Judging by the more than 1000 streams the album has got allready in the first week after the release, the metal community agrees. Anchillys is a project to watch. Andy took his time creating his debut: apperantly he spent the past 10 years in a bunker trying to come up with brutal riffs and groweling lyrics. However he did it, it is an impressive feat.
Bloid, despite their name, play energetic Death Metal. Bloid is Frisian for ‘happy’, and judging by their album cover these guy are pretty ‘Bloid’. They’ve just released a new EP, ‘The Perfect Machine’ and I’ve been enjoying it for a few hours now. Their answer on facebook as to why there are geese on their album cover was ‘why not’. I guess the guys have been playing ‘untitled goose game’ too much during lockdown. That, or there is a pack of killer geese on the loose in Alkmaar that we don’t know about.
The Perfect Machine (EP)
The Perfect Machine is a 6-track EP released early July of 2022. The whole EP is recorded, mixed and mastered during one of many lockdowns by the band members themselves and we are glad they did. It makes this EP feel like you are with these guys in the studio and they are playing these tracks live.
Inspiration and breakdowns
The Perfect Machine is this EP’s title track and the band released a hilarious video to it, that shows these guys probably don’t take themselves too seriously. Severed is the fastest track and I can feel the circle pit building up in the first 15 seconds of the song. Leech is more on the heavier and slower side, and starts with a melodic bass intro that gives us a nice rest before the heaviness starts again with a typical death metal twin kick riff. However, there is some Gojira-like vibe to this track that makes me wonder what bands these guys are inspired by. Also; in line with the ‘Bloid’ theme, the breakdown that starts at 2:48 sounds like the Dutch kids song ‘alle eendjes zwemmen in het water’ would fit over that perfectly, so maybe the band needs to record a version of that to accompany the Geese video they made for the track ‘The Perfect Machine’ 🤣.
Rorschach is probably my favourite track of this EP and I imagine this being a crowd pleaser live. It has the best guitar solo of the EP as well. Speaking of solo’s, at the end of the next song ‘I Am’, there is a bass solo that almost makes the song feel like a rock ballad, which is a big contrast to the fast heavy riffs in the beginning of the song. The final song, Insomnia takes it right back to the heavier side of things, with the growls of frontman Mike in full force again.
One point of critique: of course they aren’t robots and it won’t be flawless all the time. There is a little stutter in the first track (ironically, called ‘The Perfect Machine’) and while normally this wouldn’t really bother me, because it’s the first track it really stood out to me. Luckily the rest of the tracks sound pretty solid.
Verdict
All in all: The Perfect Machine is overall an uptempo, headbangable circle-pit-in-the-living room kinda release, with blast beats, heavy riffs and death metal rage in the vocals. An enjoyable record to listen to, and a hilarious video that I would definitely recommend 🙂
Better late than never! Quintessence has allready been live since May this year, but I didn’t have time to review it properly until now. Two years after their latest release, I am glad to see these guys are still alive and kicking (and even harder than before!). And with allready over 9000 streams on Spotify, I know I’m in for a great song.
