REPLICANT — Infinite Mortality (review)

REPLICANT — Infinite Mortality album cover

Album · 2024 · Technical Death Metal

4/5 · 2024-06-30
siLLy puPPy

REPLICANT is just one of the many modern death metal bands that has arisen from the crypt only to tackle the dissonant world of atonal technical death metal in the vein of Gorguts. This New Jersey band has been active for a decade now and slowly rising up the ranks to become a veritable force all its own. The band’s first splash of din appeared with the 2016 EP “Worthless Desires” and since the band has steadily been upping its game with new albums and an incremental refinement of its gnarled nihilistic nastiness. INFINITE MORTALITY is the newest installation in the REPLICANT canon and finds the band of Mike Gonçalves (vocals, bass, guitars), Pete Lloyd (guitar, synthesizers) and James Applegate (drummer) welcoming newbie guitarist Itay Keren who has seasoned his chops in bands such as Ossein, Misanthropy Legion and his own one-man band Afar thus making REPLICANT officially a quartet.

Disso-death has become one of the up and coming pedigrees that has branched off the greater world of death metal into an ugly hideously noisy nook that shamelessly directs its death metal din into a salacious cesspool of atonal tunings, caustic tones and feedback, math rock inspired jittery time signature freakiness as well as meandering progressive compositions that provide the soundtrack for that proverbial road to hell we’ve all been sternly warned about. Delivering all the death metal goodies and then some, REPLICANT remains steadfastly in admiration of conjuring up the most nefarious of riff demons and allow them to frolic about in utter pandemonium. INFINITE MORTALITY features nine obnoxiously trenchant tracks that guarantee to haunt the 44 minutes of playing time you will invest in subjecting yourself to this forceful display of pensive death metal dynamism.

New to the band’s sound is the use of the synthesizer but fear not for this is no symphonic metal in the vein of Septicflesh but rather to summon subtle atmospheric effects as well as the occasional psychotropic freakery. REPLICANT retains all the vile brash bravado that it has brought to the world of modern death metal and suffused it with creepy and alienating atmospheric eeriness and horror which has definitely become an increasing trend for intrepid extreme metal innovators seeking their own little twig off the parent tree. Through the course of INFINITE MORTALITY the band ranges from chugging riff brutality and blastbeat freneticism to slower oozing sonic creepiness. The album explodes into action with “Acid Mirror” which invites you into the kill zone where brutal riffs incessantly pummel your senses and the distinct bass grooves and percussive wizardry adrenalize you into a frenzy. Notable are Mike Gonçalves’ distinct constipated guttural screams which allows the band to stand out in the rather burgeoning world of modern tech death.

Another cool factor of REPLICANT is it doesn’t steer its death metal too far into the avant-garde as it makes use of classic Morbid Angel type guitar squeals and the occasional sizzling solo thrown in for good measure. Synthesized interludes provide a fascinating interstitial contrast to the incessant rampage of the cavernous claustrophobic cataclysm that REPLICANT has mastered so well. The atmospheric embellishment really does add a much needed element to contextualize the mood setting of the overall pummeling procession that REPLICANT delivers with a devilish glee. While the deathcore elements have been eeemphazied in favor knottier progressive labyrinthine twists and turns, the band never fails to throw in a few moments of explosive breakdowns in the midst of the flow of things. While Gorguts still remains the band’s #1 inspiring tour de force, the band has more than drifted on to its own dark dramatic recess in the ever-expanding world of disso-death.

So here we are in 2024 while everyone seems to be going all gaga for the latest Ulcerate release but as that band seems to be taming its sound a bit, bands like REPLICANT seem to only get more intense and dedicated to crafting some of the most demanding death metal performances of the modern era. Personally i favor these no compromise releases that aren’t afraid to simply go for it. Death metal is a fickle beast and the slightest differences can make or break a connection which is why so many of us disagree on the so-called “best” of anything. Personally i find REPLICANT to be one of the most interesting of the modern milieu of molten mordant death metal bands that suits my need for the utmost extreme! INFINITE MORTALITY is an excellent continuation and improvement on what the band has already unleashed. To my ears REPLICANT is one of the most promising disso-death acts of the year.