My bud Alex, the owner of Dolorem Records, has sent me another promo for one of his bands and this time it’s for Ad Vitam Infernal, a death metal band hailing from France.  The album cover is quite striking and with all of his releases this is the best one yet.   with the Devil and an Angel ensconced in some sort of a ballet.

Four years ago the band released their debut album Infernal Comedy, on Lavadome Productions and this two-piece act returns with a blistering follow-up which bests their impressive debut.  Jérôme Mahé – Guitars, Bass, Drum programming (2017-present) and Samuel Girard – Vocals, Drum programming (2017-present) really crafted one helluva brutal album with Le ballet des anges.  I am not a Hate Eternal fan, maybe because the music always seemed one-dimensional to me.  I do however like the Japanese version of the band, Desecravity – because they have at least more tempo shifts and I like their riffs better.  So if you are into Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal….well you get the point, brutal shit.  Le ballet des anges is 10 songs in 32 minutes, exactly the amount of time for shit this brutal.

“The Overture” is a cool intro, befitting for the lyrical themes the band has established with their debut, a kind of Danse Macabre with elements of the satanic and angelic all woven into one.  “And the Watchers Will Be Frightened” blasts opens the doors after the intro with crazy blasting.  Ok, yes, this is programmed drums, but you know what, not only do they sound incredible, they sound just like the live drummers on these types of albums who already have their riggs triggered from head to toe.  The riffing is fast and furious (without Vin Diesel thank God!!) and the guitar harmonies are excellent.  At two minutes the song is over fast.

“Shemihazah the Great” is next and has an awesome starting gallop collapsing chest cavities all over the place.  Some of the stop-and-start moments are breath taking and the harmonies can be heard amongst all the chaos.  Vocals are powerful.  Deep and gruff, but also quite powerful. The section at the 2.10 mark is great with the mid-paced bludgeoning and guitar harmonies and soloing.  Sounds like the soundtrack from hell as the song picks up at a ferocious speed.  More galloping moments that slide right into those blasting moments.  I swear this song throttled me from one neck of the woods to the other then a tombstoned pile drived me through the earth.

“Enchain Them All!” is a tad over five minutes and is the longest song with some swirling Morbid Angel/Immolation styled dissonant riffing going on.  Excellent opening with the mid-paced moments.  They go a long way with the music being able to breathe and these moments, which are all over the album, make those blast beats even more punishing.  This type of music needs tempo shifts and Ad Vitam Infernal knows this in crafting their songs.  The mid-paced bludgeoning moments are impactful and flow well, even with the programmed drums, the rhythm section ignites.  Over the crazy blast beats the weird guitar moments, with the harmonies, are terrific and add depth and resonate with me a lot.  Again this stuff is blistering and relentless.

Le ballet des anges is scorching and Ad Vitam Infernal are not a band for the faint of heart.  For my gym weight lifting and cardio I always find myself being able to lift a little more and run a little faster when listening to this band.  It gets my blood boiling since it’s so aggressive.  This is well produced and for this style of music a clear and concise production is needed and it’s achieved on this.  If you want some absolute brutal and fast death metal you must give this band a try!

[Visit the band's website]

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