Alienacion (LaMariaDelTajo Promusica)

 Infernal Kingdom is a Chilean Black Metal trio formed back in 2002 and “Alienacion” is the band’s long awaited demo debut… Despite of the obvious lack of experience in terms of discography, Infernal Kingdom has a vast experience as a live band, gaining some reputation in local underground circles, and this experience is remarkably reflected at this first release. The band delivers here an interesting and intense blend of Black Metal with Death Metal overtones, complemented by a solid semi-technical performance and somewhat modern sounding structures, which moving mostly over fast paced tempos creates atmospheres of violence and obscurity. The thrashing guitars and varied, powerful drumming are the main responsibles for this electrifying sound, showing some Melodic Death Metal influences in its performance, which combined with the severe straight Black Metal aura and some more traditional Death Metal overtones result in a quite remarkable proposal, that even when is not 100% original certainly shows intensity, obscurity and conviction. The lyrics on this demo (principally sung in Spanish) are very interesting as well, dealing with diverse topics such individualism, black magic and slavery along with the obligatory anti-Christian rhetoric. The most interesting track of this demo, both musically and lyrically, is undoubtedly “Tortuoso Final”, a nine minutes mid paced Black Metal piece, full of intensity, obscure melodies and a bitter slavery-based concept behind… The sound of this demo is not the finest, even when the production sound clearer than the average Black Metal demo sound, the whole mixing sounds pretty weak and somewhat unbalanced; the possessed vocalizations sound too high in the mix and reveals some minor faults, which in case of a more balanced mixing would pass unadvertised. Anyway, despite of the sound issue (let’s consider this is the band first studio work), “Alienacion” is a very solid and somewhat innovating Black Metal opus, absolutely recommended for those who enjoy the intelligently composed and well executed Black/Death Metal… (AP)