Infected Rain - Ecdysis (2022)

New year, new music – the first week of a year’s releases is always an interesting time as it often sets the tone for the sound of the year. It’s strange but exciting to see this right at the beginning of the year. This is the case with metal band INFECTED RAIN with their fifth album, Ecdysis. Does this album set the tone high for the rest of 2022, or is the year starting off on a sour note?

There’s a lot of amazing work on this record that shows how talented the whole band are. There’s plenty of expression, especially with the vocals and guitars in each song. The band kick off the album with Postmortem Pt 1 – a beautiful opening riff and excellent unclean vocals topped off with ethereal lyrics and exquisite synths. This is further exemplified throughout the rest of the album by even more brilliant lyrics delivered by incredible vocals, both clean and unclean. The drumming rhythms are also fantastic, forging the structure to each song, but also given enough space to flourish and express equally in the song with fills and additional cymbals. This is certainly evident in Fighter, The Realm of Chaos, Everlasting Letherg and Showers.

A stand out track is Nine, Ten, which changes up the music by stripping it back to synths and vocals. It’s softer and a lovely change of pace to hear. The unclean vocals on top of this stripped back sound are actually refreshing. They feel raw and authentic, the harsh and gritty vocals contradicting against the softer synths.

However, despite a lot of positive elements to this album, there are a number of other elements that work against it and block the record from becoming a complete package. In a number of songs, like Goodbye, These Walls, and Never The Same, it feels like the music takes a backseat, displaying generic and boring riffs and rhythms that can make the listener zone out of the record. Luckily, the lyrics and vocals remain on that excellent high that had been set since the first track, which saves these three tracks from being completely disregarded, however it’s still a disappointment to hear.

On the opposite end, the lyrics and vocals unfortunately cannot save November, which feels like a jumbled mess that is unsure of the direction it wants to take and lacks any stand out elements the other tracks on the album have. It’s a bit disappointing to hear how the record between them and Nine, Ten takes a slump down when the rest of the record is incredible to listen to.

Overall, Ecdysis is a mixed bag of a record. When there’s a great track, it hits really well and encompasses why people love and enjoy this band. But when it slumps, it ventures into boring territory and can feel clunky. Whilst not necessarily bad, the slumped moments do stick out and are disappointing to hear. Despite this, as mentioned, the rest of the album is full of incredible tracks, especially Everlasting Letherg, and its shortcomings shouldn’t deter people from giving it a listen. INFECTED RAIN have done a brilliant job on a majority of the tracks on this album, and Ecdysis is still a good record, even if it’s not a great one.

Rating: 7/10

by Naomi Sanders, distortedsoundmag.com