Mental Cruelty - Inferis (2019)^{Release ID: 25243}

Mental Cruelty's debut Purgatorium is filled with lyrical blasphemy and gore, brutal riffing, and vocals ranging from low growls to high shrieks. Despite all that violent rage, I actually love it. And we have more of this crushing German deathcore quintet's sound in Inferis!

This is the soundtrack to the hellish Land of the Dead that the album title translates into. Pure brutal deathcore lasting slightly longer in total length than Purgatorium. Oh I forgot to mention that Purgatorium has guest vocals from Duncan Bentley, Diogo Santana, Ben Mason, and Daniel Burris. In Inferis, guests include vocalists Dickie Allen and Jason Evans (from Infant Annihilator and Ingested, respectively) and guitarists Jack Simmons and Marco Bayati (from Slaughter to Prevail and Desolace, respectively).

The album's title intro lurks in like a horror movie. Then the first song "Planet of Misery" opens with rapid drumming, dark guitar chords, and death growling. The top-notch production puts everything in front, thus making the slam-deathcore slam hard onto the surface. We also have some soloing energy before a brutal breakdown. "Blood Altar" marks another one of my favorites here, adding killer variation in the riffing and vocals. Once again, it ends with a downtempo breakdown to remind some of Osiah. Next up, "Tormentum" is another destructive track, with Dickie Allen's guest vocals towards the end.

"Priest of Damnation" annihilates with fast riffing and the technical leads of Within the Ruins. "Mundus Vult Decipi" has Jack Simmons' guest guitarwork. The riffing and overall instrumentation are absolutely insane. The sludgy breakdown and the long audio sample that comes before it really brings the track up to highlight status. The odd track out here is "Cosmic Indifference", which could've had some better improvement, but not much worth considering a standout.

"God Hunt" makes up for that with its massive riffing and Jason Evans' guest vocals right before the pulverizing breakdown. "Human Evisceration" was re-recorded from the Pereat Mundus EP. F***ing incredible strength and speed there. The "outro" "Monocerotis" ends with the last bit of brutal technicality, even hinting at the later blackened era.

Inferis can very well be the soundtrack for exploring the darkest depths of Hell. It's so stellar yet absolutely dark, continuing the atmospheric brutality of Purgatorium. Fans of Mental Cruelty and other deathcore bands (including the ones the guests are/were in) might enjoy this as much as their debut. The strength of the band keeps growing, and while they'll start taking on a more melodic epic direction in subsequent releases, the brutality is still around for heavier listeners to be pleased!

Favorites: "Planet of Misery", "Blood Altar", "Mundus Vult Decipi", "God Hunt", "Human Evisceration"