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Infected Malignity > Re:bel > Reviews
Infected Malignity - Re:bel

Sadly not a brutal death album. - 70%

Zero_Nowhere, June 9th, 2010

Despite the shift in direction, its far from bad. It wasn't exactly an unheralded shift either – the untitled track on their previous album hinted at much of the melodic sensibilities that crept in here and the hardcore influence in the riffing was always quite obvious. It's just that this time round, instead of being BDM with some -core influence, it's a -core album with some BDM sections. Broken down musically, it's a mashup of melodic deathcore ala All Shall Perish, a small dose of tech-deathcore like The Red Chord and a large splash of album-era Infected Malignity bookended by a clean guitar intro and outro.

Vocally it's very different from the album, favouring various sorts of hardcore sounds. Some standard tough-guy barks, deathcore-ish half growls, a few gang shouts and some emo styled vocals (Orchid, not Bullet for my Valentine). It's not unvaried though – in addition to several different sorts of punk vocals the dry growls make a reappearance, although they're no longer the primary voice used.

The guitar tone is a tad more percussive than on the debut but it's quite similar. The drums haven't changed a bit since The Malignity Born From Despair. If anything changed in the bass tone it wouldn't be noticeable anyway so that's a moot point.

Really, scrape the surface of RE:bel and you'll find a lot of the classic Infected Malignity sound here. While most of the riffs are standard deathcore fare or backing for the frequent melodic breaks, there still exists a good number of riffs that wouldn't be out of place on the debut and in typical IF fashion the blast riffs are every bit as memorable as the pit sections.

Addressing the issue of breakdowns... there really isn't an issue here. Infected Malignity were never the most restrained band when it came to throwing in slams (restrained compared to 24/7 slammers like Cephalotripsy perhaps) but they didn't cross the line into self parody. There's a handful of staccato breakdowns found here but they're actually no more numerous than the hardcore grooves and slams. If people want to complain about the -core influence on this one they should take it up with the melodic breaks. Which are damned well everywhere, albeit not teamed with the usual clean chorus. There are no clean vocals at all to be found here. Thank $deity.

Honestly, I have a hard time rating this. The sections reminiscent of their album are as solid as ever and the core sections are entertaining without the tough-guy wigger excesses associated with Emmure or the emocore histrionics that cause people to crack Bring Me The Horizon jokes. It's just that The Malignity Born From Despair was such a vicious slab of brutal death that it left me wanting more – and not a half EP worth of it crammed in alongside a half EP worth of deathcore.