New Record from the Minneapolis GOATS //INFURIATE//. This is a particularly exciting record for me to have as my first review, because the Seventh Circle show headlined by //INFURIATE// is the reason I started this zine in the first place! That was such a fun show, I had like 10 giant bruises after it haha! And I'm pretty sure I got most of them during the //INFURIATE// set. I'm gonna have a brief sentence or two for my thoughts on each specific track, and then my full review will be at the end!

Track 1: Hell on Earth - Damn. Killer intro to the record. The vocals kinda have an early Grindcore sound to them. Something I really like about //INFURIATE//'s music is that they're very chaotic, and I think that comes through on this song very well. Fucking gnarly as hell!

Track 2: Path to Destruction - Once again, //INFURIATE// is just so much more chaotic than everyone else and I fucking love it! The way the vocals sort of layer and interact with each other is almost disorienting, in a good way obviously. Also that half-tempo section, WOW! That's a fucking headbanger.

Track 3: //why?// - Another cool thing about //INFURIATE// that this track REALLY brings out is their use of samples. I think a lot of bands fail to use samples in a way that actually aids their music, but I think the use of sampling here is a genuinely good addition to the music. Also gonna put it out there that I think this song has one of the best D-Beats ever, it's played so good. WHHHHHYYYYYYY????

Track 4: Dead World - I think the vocals really shine here again like they did on the intro track. Most of the previous three tracks have been very heavy, this one's very hard in my opinion, if that makes sense. No half-tempo section, it's fast and aggressive from start to finish. Good track to mix up the pace of the record!

Track 5: Scourge of Humanity - I think this track has some of my favorite riffs on the album. This is another track that's a lot more hard than it is heavy, it's a total D-Beat assault! This entire record also has such a good cymbal tone, I'm an incredibly big fan of it. It's very crispy.

Track 6: Indominance - This track has the most kinetic energy on the record... if that makes any sense. If you like good old D-Beat, this track is the most reminiscent of classic D-Beat to me. It's got a lot of groove rhythmically, I feel like that's something you kinda don't see in Crust a lot. Another track with really good riffs. And the drums, like I mentioned they switch from having groove to being just hammering. SO GOOD! Definitely a contender for my favorite track on the whole record!

Track 7: Conforming Existence - This track also has very early Grindcore-esque vocals on it, and I think generally this track is a lot more metallic than some of the other tracks. Definitely one of the noisier tracks on the record. Once again, I cannot ignore the cymbal, it is my favorite cymbal tone ever.

Track 8: Pure Living Hell - THIS IS HOW YOU CLOSE OUT AN ALBUM! There's so much variety everywhere here, the riffs have incredibly varied sounds and varied emotions conveyed through the harmonies, the drums hardly stay on the same beat for more than 10 seconds, this track is just always moving it feels like. Also that lick at the start, MY GOD! And that half-tempo section, once again such a fucking headbanger. Such an awesome closing song, such a memorable closing song.

FINAL THOUGHTS!
There's a lot to say about this record, and frankly I don't know if I have all of the words to say it, but I'm going to try. This record starts off and immediately sets a good tone for the rest of the record. The first track has a good mix of being both heavy and hard, with both strong D-Beat sections as well as hammering blast sections. The guitar riffs are fairly consistent in their sound on the intro track, but I think that's a good way to set up the tone of the riffs for the rest of the record. I think the vocal track also sets a strong precedent for the vocals on the album. Like I mentioned, they have a very early Grindcore sound to them, and while that vocal style is much stronger both on the intro track and Conforming Existence, you can hear the style throughout the entire record. I'm someone who really likes early Grindcore much more than modern Grindcore (I think some people call that style of like early Napalm Death "Crustgrind"? I'm not fully sure though), so I'm a very big fan of that vocal style. Regarding the rest of the record, it's incredibly strong and versatile Crust. As I mentioned a lot, the record has a very good balance of songs that are hard and songs that are heavy. Conforming Existence is incredibly heavy, while Dead World is very hard. Indominance has a good mix of both to me. The drums really stick out to me on this record, it takes some skill to have a strong D-Beat, have strong hammering blasts, and mix them and make them transition together smoothly. Also I kept brining it up but the cymbal tone really is so good. As the record goes on, there's a lot of good variety within the riffs. Pure Living Hell stands out to me, I think the riffs on that track are incredibly varied while still working together very well. I think that track has most of my favorite riffs on the record. Like I mentioned, one of //INFURIATE//'s biggest strengths to me is the chaos of their songs, they have some of the most chaotic Crust I've heard, and that really shines through on a lot of songs on this record. I think Path to Destruction probably shows this off the best, there's a lot of well managed chaos on that entire track. Not to mention this entire record captures a lot of the sound that I love about older Crust/Stenchcore. I think to sum up my thoughts, this record is an incredibly well balanced mix of hard and heavy songs with a cold, raw, and chaotic timbre that manages to stay consistent while still not limiting the variety of the music itself. It's absolutely something you have to listen to!