Infanticide - Sonic Punishment EP

Infanticide MySpace
Release: 2008
Label: 625 Thrashcore
Type: 7"

The tone on this EP is great. It's like a punk band trying to pin down the Swedish Death Metal sound. Infanticide come across a little grittier, but since they are from Sweden they were able to approximate it rather well. In many ways though they sound a lot closer to Florida act Shitstorm then Entombed. Another way to describe them is as a bridge between powerviolence and grindcore.

They only served up 10 songs on the EP and managed to squeeze them into nine minutes. In true 625 Thrashcore fashion they at least made the songs interesting. The bonus is in the production. So far as 7" vinyl goes, this is a good recording. It begins with a 25-second hardcore-influenced churn - the calm before the storm approach. From this point on it's an assault of grindcore riffs. There is a fair amount of death metal riffing tossed in here and there, even some double-picked versions of grindcore riffs (executed well on "Blame Yourself") but the preferred direction for Infanticide should be rather obvious by the second track.

Behind the mic, the vocals reach our ears in the form of (death metal influenced) hardcore rasps - sounding just like Shitstorm - and fit very well with the music. There is not much to mention in terms of drumming other than it is serviceable. Aside from the blasts we get some thrash and d-beats. I am picky when it comes to drums: I think the odd slower parts and the brief breakdowns could have been filled in better ways. However, to be fair, the presentation and intensity of the songs makes up for this.

Overall I think EPs are more an avenue for being heard than a medium for putting out a band's best work. I am happy to overlook basic drumming and a lack of vocal dynamics if the songs are good, and all of these are. What the EP shows is that Infanticide has plenty of potential and should be able to address these concerns by the time they get out a full-length (which they deserve). I would like to see them live.

These songs stuck out most for me: Disbelief and Oblivion Descends. I also liked the trip down memory lane courtesy of Defaced, with it's main riff sounding like the verse riff for "The Chains That Bind Us" by Napalm Death.

Buy this if you have a record player. I'm too lazy to convert this from vinyl to mp3, but someone else seemed to have the time: you can check out a good sound-quality version here.