Infernaeon emanated from the boggy swamps of Fort Lauderdale, Florida back in 2005 by the wills of Brian Magley, Kevin Gibbons and Brian Werner. In 2007 the band issued their debut, 'A Symphony of Suffering' through Prosthetic Records, which seemed to get a response, but not the most positive ones from what I remember reading. Flash forward to late August of 2010 the band is back with an almost completely different line-up (save for Werner and Gibbons) and their sophomore release, 'Genesis To Nemesis'.Infernaeon effectively blends classic Floridian death metal (i.e. Morbid Angel) with European style symphonic black metal keyboard orchestration to create something similar to the old Florida based band Nocturnus, although a bit more advanced in its overall execution.
To my ears David Stein's keyboards sound fairly similar to old Dimmu Borgir records, such as, 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant' or Spiritual Black Dimensions,' and that isn't a bad thing at all. They also tend to have a bit of a Children of Bodom quality to them and by that I mean they tend to double up and follow the guitar riffs, which at first is something to get used to, especially if you don't dig those old CoB albums, but it really grows on you after a few spins. Otherwise though the keyboards are fairly active throughout most of this record and add the darkened atmosphere we all know and love from classic Norwegian black metal albums.
Both Steven Harger and Taylor Nordberg due a fine job with their guitar playing often times belting out several hard hitting bangin' riffs in each song as well as some impressive shredding solos, two of which are played by Bill Hudson (Circle II Circle / Cellador) and John Slaughter (Coldera). I have to also admit that Jeramie Kling's drum work is competent and works well with this material while Kevin Gibbons bass work is audible though it doesn't seem to do much to alter the music further. Brian Werner's vocals are quite well done as they are a fair mix between low (yet decipherable) guttural roars to raspy blackened screams, which are not overly insane or diabolical, but again work well with the style of music Infernaeon plays.
Although I do enjoy this album and can honestly say most of it is something of a breath of fresh air it does have its downsides too. The intro synth piece for example just seems to be too long and just drags on for over three minutes while the bands cover of Metallica's, 'Creeping Death' is spot on musically and made more interesting with the keyboards but vocally its completely ruined with Oderus Urungus of Gwar taking the lead and allowing Werner to only back him up on this one. There's also some minor production issues, such as the drums not being loud and dominate enough as they should be, but you can overlook it since these things tend to happen when several instruments are fighting for supremacy on a single record.
In the end this is a solid record and if per chance you have a strong interest in both death metal and symphonic black metal this may just be the perfect album for you. I wish I could write that the future of Infernaeon looks bright, but just a few months ago Werner left the band and recently seems to be pursing some sort of legal action from the remaining members now. The end perhaps? A shame. Hopefully they can work it out and crank out another record before things get really ugly.
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