Infra are a project from Portugal consisting of members involved with e.g. Corpus Christii, Alchemist or Göatfukk, and the trio released two pieces via mighty Californian label Nuclear War Now! Productions gathered as Initiations On The Ordeals Of Lower Vibrations.
The vinyl single (aka 7”EP) opens, on side A, with Communion, which starts with, guess, some kind of Tibetan gong. After about one minute, the whole turns into a mostly vile and morbid form of ultra-heavy, low-tuned Death Metal with a somewhat occult atmosphere. Especially the doomish riffing, massive rhythm section and hellish grunts create that asphyxiating atmosphere. But that isn’t all, for soon the whole accelerates, with first a blasting eruption, and further on a grandiose melodious intermezzo. At almost four minutes, Communion returns to its initial Doom-paced heaviness, yet those pounding drum patterns and guttural growls add that something unearthly…
Side B brings Perversion Of Sulphur, which lasts for seven minutes. Here too the variation in tempo is remarkable, and for sure a surplus. At higher volume, it drags you away into lovecraftian dimensions of horror (sorry, I was just thinking about my first ‘aural’ meeting with Ævangelist), and the multi-layered composition exhales that unique execution that characterizes several bands on labels such as I, Voidhanger Records or Iron Bonehead and the likes.
If I had to give one remark, it would be the sound, which is too dull, too dense, too muddy. It’s like the demo-tapes from the origins of the Swedish scene, but in mean time we’re 2015 and not 1985 anymore…