In thorough examination of their ongoing pursuit of groove-driven damage applied to canonical death metal fire Vigo, Spain-based quartet INFRAHUMANO resemble the impact of a siege engine per their sophomore full-length album. Though they’d ‘ready breached that particular wall on their previous record here on ‘Depths of Suffering‘ they’ve purposed said accumulated personage into refined performance and render, tightening their mechanism into repeatable yet easy-flowing violence per this second pass. While it isn’t built to be all that catchy or memorable there is some palpable rush to be gleaned from their weave between volcanic bellows and groove-heavy volley.

Infrahumano have been around since 2014 or so, originally forming as a trio and releasing their first demo (‘Thousand Eyes‘, 2017) before expanding to a quartet. That first release had some interesting ideas behind it where loose-shouldered technical groove metal movements were rooted in Immolation and Deicide-esque stabilized functions, it wasn’t fully fleshed but the whole thing had a unique amble to it. They’d tightened those ideas a fair deal for their debut LP (‘Echoes of Decay‘, 2019) to the point where some semblance of Tucker-era Morbid Angel could feasibly have been inspiration for their compositions but cross-eyed between blackened death and groove metal context. I’m not the biggest fan of that shotgun style of riff but this was generally remedied on their next demo (‘Across the Void‘, 2022) as employing session drummer Damián Álvarez (whom also plays on the new LP) allowed their work to tighten up closer to an Angelcorpse level of battery and this is reflected directly within ‘Depths of Suffering‘ here a few years later.

Although opener “Across the Void” hits with a little bit of déjà vu to start via their wah pedal warbling and a groovier riff the song quickly reframes those familiar traits into fiery Krisiun-esque brutality for its verses, trading looser chunking flow back and forth with militaristic hammering. This is not only an entertaining enough opener but a good representation of ‘Depths of Suffering‘ as an escalation of the band’s original goal, introduction of frequently reprised traits/voicing, as well as sporting their sharpest level of performance to date. Beyond that point we find each song on this album flowing together without significant pause, resembling an intense set largely focused on the riff and the whipping of the drums behind it. In this way a song like “Battalion of Darkness” might recall recent releases from Escarnium for its searching lead breaks and otherwise pummeled tempo yet there is a head-down, hammered-at quality to these performances which are meandering but not among the dreaming dead.

From a surface-deep level of observation there is a late 90’s classics era death metal barrage deployed here which carries its own diabolic sense of revivalism where Infrahumano‘s compositional hand recalls key blackened death plumes of yesterday while still exercising their tendency toward simpler grooves, typically used as transitional segue which break away from too-brutal density. This was maybe more obvious on songs like “Baptized in Acid” where a number of simpler movements begin to create an uneasy yet freely swung tunnel vision as their song lengths begin to creep closer to the five minute mark (re: “Global Degradation”, “The Last Breath”.) I wouldn’t say that this creates any particularly memorable signage for the band as they’re tunneling through extremity more than they are creating illustrative detail, the action to be found on ‘Depths of Suffering‘ is all loaded into their explosive command of rhythm and the nuance available to the firestorm created.

All things considered Infrahumano have delivered their best record to date here in terms of performance, production values (via La Cumbre Studios and Earhammer Studio) and furthering what style had been developed on earlier releases. It all make sense as a refinement of those original tendencies, a barrage which finds somewhere to go with a fairly familiar approach to bygone canon. While very little of it stuck in mind as memorable or particularly shocking in its feats of riffcraft I could definitely hang with the full listen on repeat and appreciate the serpentine whipping and chunking rip through. A moderately high recommendation.

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