originally written by Chris McDonald
Yet another quality grindcore band out of Scandinavia (Sweden specifically), Infanticide aren’t fucking around. Aside from a couple of doomy segments and punch-in-the-face grooves, From Our Cold Dead Hands is a quick and ruthless burst of dark and well-constructed grind. If you require anything else, I suggest you seek out another review.
A suitably brief jolt at around 24 minutes, with most songs hovering around the minute range, this is about as pure as grind gets. But while the riffing style pays an obvious homage to Napalm Death and Terrorizer, Infanticide’s atmosphere and instrumental tactics are unmistakably modern. Despite the rather crusty look of the band’s name and cover art, there’s very little punk influence on this record; the guitar tone and guttural vocals are undeniably metal, and even when things switch to D-beat mode there’s still a decidedly death metal feel permeating things. The musicianship is certainly tight, but there’s enough looseness to the rhythms and drumming to maintain a raw aesthetic, and the guitar tone oozes with that sludgy energy that I love so much about Scandinavian grind projects. With most tracks over before you even realize they began, From Our Cold Dead Hands is supported by its three longer and more diverse cuts, which unsurprisingly happen to be the most memorable of the album. “Domestic Warfare” pulls the curtains back with an ominous bass-driven intro before launching into a furious cacophony, while the barbaric “Shock and Awe” reigns back the speed a little with a punishing sense of groove, which makes its presence felt again in “Under Dumhet Digna Ned.”
There’s little point in going too much further into individual track details, but don’t mistake that as implying that Infanticide aren’t adept at constructing worthwhile songs. The riffs all have a solid sense of catchiness and compositional quality and the bursts of aggression are ideally placed against the (barely) less extreme parts when they surface. Song structures are pretty standard for the genre, with the general feel of each song typically determined by the drumbeats being played, but little touches like the drum intro to “A Worse Today” keep the tracks from completely blurring together (though I’ve always found a little blurring desirable in music like this). Simon Frid’s guttural bellows are pretty one-dimensional, and there are times when a little vocal diversity would have been effective, but the vox are obviously not the star of the show here. The punishing riffwork and relentless drumming are, however, and speedfreak listeners should feel more than satiated by the time closer “Alone With God” fades from their ears.
Grindcore as a genre has been on a great kick in the last couple of years; outfits like Mumakil, Afgrund, and Gadget are really taking the style to new heights by implementing death metal’s skilled musicianship and dark atmosphere into the narrow and frenzied approach of the classic iterations of the sound. Infanticide is a great example of a new band that can maintain a raw and gritty aesthetic while still taking advantage of the songwriting potential that can result from this union, and From Our Could Dead Hands deserves a purchase from any and all fans of metal’s short and brutal side.
