Review Summary: hellfire, dead nuns, death, fire. Satan. Hell
Infester’s
To the Depths... In Degradation is the band’s sole full length, and leaves one wondering whether this could actually be something found on Satan’s playlist. To get my facts straight, I contacted the Great Lord of the Depths on whether he approved of Infester, of the album, and his thoughts regarding it. He replied shortly after, with a somewhat interesting analysis of the album itself.
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Dear rasputin,
It seems that a lot of metal bands have taken my name and what I stand for as inspiration for their music, and frankly I’m sick of it. The last fifteen years have seen countless pussy-arse metal bands putting on make-up and thinking I give a flying f
uck about their sh
itty, watered down tunes, and I’m extremely saddened by the lack of tr00 believers who use their music in an authentic ritualistic worship of all that is evil. Fifteen years ago, I was approached by the members of Infester, who asked me whether they could use my crib as a recording studio. They seemed like pretty nice guys, the sort of guys you could hang out with and have some pizza, so I said sure. This was how
To the Depths... In Degradation came into being, and I feel safe to proclaim it as the tome of blasphemy and nun-sodomy in the mortal world, the soundtrack to the hellfire from whence it was recorded.
The first thing to note about the album is how thick and dense a sound it has, much in line with the death metal scene apparent in the US at the time. In actual fact, this dense feel was a result of all the recording equipment being saturated in lamb’s blood. We made sure that the instruments themselves were treated similarly, to give that awesome ‘we’re going to burn churches and rape women’ sound. To be very honest, the guys from Infester just weren’t up to my standards in instrumental talent, so I had to give them a few pointers, as well as doing a few rituals behind their backs. Drummer Dario was basically possessed by my mate Baal for the entirety of the recording, which explains his almost inhuman performance; likewise, the simple effect of playing while being burned alive definitely had an impact on the playing of the other two members, and really gave the album that blaspheming sound so many bands try and fail to attain.
Before we got the recording process under way, I made sure to look over some of the composition the guys had brought with them, and it was lucky I did, because the album could have easily ended up a pretty lame piece of music. The subtle incorporation of doom into the band’s death metal aesthetic was rather poor, to say the least, and seeing as I’m pretty much the guy to go to when you’re dealing with the Armageddon, I made a few minor changes to the structure of the album. As a result, the doom sections basically sound like the earth opening up and swallowing the world whole, the way they should sound.
Almost every aspect of the album was greatly influenced by being recorded in Hell; I tried to get the guys to base everything on the frequency to which I torture people. The drumming reflects a million nuns being gutted and racked, the guitars sound like my pitchfork stabbing people in the face and Jason’s vocals were modeled on an a cappella band we have down here, The No Throats. I thought it would be funny to tear out their throats and then make them sing, but they definitely served more than their original purpose by helping Jason really sound like he was being killed or something. Of course, once the album had been fully recorded, the typical packaging and marketing had to be done; every copy was dosed in various quantities of lamb’s blood and each came with your very own nun’s liver, for both rituals and aesthetic pleasure. I was very pleased with the mindset the guys had; they were willing to sacrifice everything, including their souls, to make the single most sacrilegious album ever. It did work, and they’re still here working on their eternal debt to me for helping them; why do you think they never released any other material? Haha just kidding, no but seriously. They’re dead.
Kind regards,
Satan
P.S. Your review better make people listen to this album, or else. Haha just kidding, no but seriously. I'll kill you.
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Needless to say, I was very surprised that Satan actually replied, and in my excitement I decided to simply submit the letter as my review. I don’t think anyone needs any more proof regarding how f
ucking evil this album is. Do yourself a favour, and listen to it real quick, I’m afraid he was being serious in his postscript.
