Infest, Moshroom

Twenty songs. Thirty minutes. You can pretty much guess how this one’s going to go.

Basque, France’s Infest erupt out of your speakers with an aggressive combination of hardcore, powerviolence and grindcore that is a welcome surprise from the land of wine and fashion. These guys tear though Nasum and Napalm Death inspired blasting grind like there’s no tomorrow, rarely letting up for a moment.

The guitars are thick and driven while the rhythm section bludgeon with the best of them. Vocally, the screams settle mainly in the mid to higher end of the range, only dipping occasionally into guttural silliness for those extra special moments. Overall, Moshroom is appropriately titled — you’re brain will feel like it’s caught in a never ending mosh after a few listens to this album.

Peace Love Freedom and Flowers
The album starts out with some pretty beefy riffs and rapid fire drums… hell the whole album is chock full of this stuff. The drum tone took a while for me to get used to, but I love the vocal destruction these guys are letting fly.

Murphy’s Law
The dual vocals really add that extra bit of oomph that pushes the album into greater depths. This is a thick, moshtastic song that will have you spinning around your room Tasmanian devil style in no time.

I Ate a Bin
There’s a nice death n’ roll groove to this one in between the manic drum and vocal eruptions. It’s definitely a stand out track on the album.

Identical Bodies
There’s a decent chugging bit of riffery weaving throughout “Identical Bodies,” a song that, for the most part, is pretty even keeled and easy to get into. The slow down at :43 has a nice groove to it.

20th Century Fucks
Full on grinding destruction can be found in the short 1:38 that this one takes up. It’s full on from the get go and never lets up.

How Many Minds
Mmmm… guttural pig squeals, or at least the French variety of them, opens up the vocal delivery on this next song. The change in guitar tone at :45 is a nice touch that lets the song breathe nicely before disintegrating into grinding blasts to end out the song.

Greatest [S]Hits
I’m digging the Napalm Death feel to the guitars on this one while the more hardcore like vocals are shouted violently over them. They combination makes for a very aggressive sound.

Future is for Us
“Future is for Us” has more of that death n’ roll vibe to the early riffing, but quickly descends into grinding madness with rapid fire drumming and much deeper guttural vocals piled into the already chaotic delivery.

Could Anybody Answer?
There’s a great punk/hardcore vibe to the guitars and drum work that gets this next one off to a voracious start. The grind kicks in a t:45 with vicious vocals and massive drumming. The bass lines running through this portion of the song are pretty damned thick.

100% Malin
Man, this song is delivered with some vehemence. The vocals are tortured and raw while the rest of the band bludgeons their way through 30 seconds or so of destruction.

Paberse Matao
The reverb that ends out the previous song fades into the meaty riffs that comprises “Paberse Matao.” For as beefy as this song is, there’s still a pretty decent groove in it’s unrelenting attack. The end of the song is a mass of verbal chaos and reverb.

This Song is Called
This is a killer track with massive riffing, thick rhythms and vicious vocal work. The burst of activity at :48 is barbaric as all get out. I’m digging the amount of effort that’s been put into the throat wrenching vocals.

The Slyness of Repercution
“The Slyness of Repercution” has a great, doomy feel to the massive guitars that fills the 1:48 long instrumental.

C2h5O5
The band gets back to the blistering grind after that brief respite with this violent trip through “C2h5o5.” I’m not sure how ethanol plays into the band’s song writing, but if this song is any indication they’ve been gargling this shit every morning.

Playboy Square
“Playboy Square” is a pretty traditional dual vocal grind attack. The guitar tones are down tuned and thick while the drums unleash hell upon your ears.

Moshroom
The title track is a brutal back alley beat down from the moment the song opens up until 30 second later when it just as violently leaves you laying unconscious in a pool of your own feces.

Shoot the Pope
Dude. This song kills it. “Shoot the Pope” is a full on death n’ roll influenced batch of mid-tempo grind. I’m loving everything about this song. Well, except for the inexplicable pig squeal around the 55 second mark. The higher end shrieks around 1:30 are intense. This is a beast of a song.

Mr Polkak
I’m not sure how much more my feeble brain will be able to withstand after listening to this album a couple of times today. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be useless at the office tomorrow. Ah well, they can suck it. I’m going to crank this shit loud through the rest of the night.

Rent a Wife
This next song is another of the few that have a more traditional grind sound ala early Napalm Death. It’s a bruising track with thick guitars and violent drum work. The vocals on this one are aggressive as all get out.

Polype
The album closer is a bestial track but has some crazy wacked out vocals that really show that these dudes know how to have some fun with themselves.

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Additional Notes:
N/A