Infestation (Mex) – The Mystic Sorrow

As I said before, there are many Infestations in the world of metal. This one in particular comes from Mexico. They formed in 1992, released a demo called The Mystic Sorrow in 1994, and split up sometime after that. They also participated in the split album Shadows in the Night with two other bands called Pandemia and Dormanth. I downloaded that split sometime ago, but I'll get to it later. In the meantime, let's listen to The Mystic Sorrow.

First of all, the production is pretty harsh, which is understandable as how they were probably only able to make do with what they could find lying around. Despite this, the great musicianship still manages to shine through. The drums mainly stick to simple blast beats that sound quite reminiscent of grindcore. The cymbals are quite prominent and help to give the music a more dissonant quality. They also make sure to throw in plenty of fills.

The growls are deep and bellowing. They sound just as dark and enigmatic as the album cover. Sometimes, these whispered vocals accompany the growls. Honestly, I don't know why they put them there. Perhaps they saw it as cool but I see it as a distraction. Best of all are the guitars. They're incredibly distorted and crunchy and their riffs are fast and simple. They sound much more similar to grindcore than death metal. That's fine by me. Sometimes, I like grindcore in my death metal. Topping it all off are the maniacal solos that totally set the ground ablaze.

The production maybe really raw and abrasive, but the music is fantastic. I especially love those crunchy grinding riffs. This demo is a great piece of old school Mexican death metal and it's definitely worth listening to.