Infernal - The Infernal Return

 

INFERNAL - The Infernal Return (GOATHORNED Productions - EP 2010)

I always had a lot of sympathy for the person of David Parland, as I just really, really liked his way of playing, his characteristic composing style, with those memorable, but uncompromising riffs and melodies and obviously also his dark, obscure vocals was essential. He was the one, who did the only materials of Dark Funeral, which I have in my collection and which I like. After his departure Dark Funeral was never as good and I just quickly lost my interest in this band. He also did some of the best Necrophobic releases, especially that insanely amazing debut LP “The Nocturnal Silence”. But when he left both bands and formed Infernal I was quite disappointed first, but that was until I’ve listened to “Infernal” MLP and have been totally blown away by the sheer intensity, blasting fury and energy, by all that fantastic aggression and the atmosphere, which this MLP delivers. It still belongs to one of my favourite black metal vinyls, which I have in the collection. But I was so disappointed that Infernal was silent for many years. I mean the announcement of the full length album was many years ago, if I remember, then they released the “Summon Forth the Beast” MLP, which is nowhere to find and nothing else hapened. Finally “The Infernal Return” was released, but it is just a 7”EP with basically two songs plus a short melodic passage. Honestly, for someone like me, who hungers for more music from David Parland, it is not enough!!!!!! But from the other hand I welcomed this release with a smile and quickly purchased a copy. It definitely is a great addition to my collection, but really I hope that it is an announcement of the album, which will hopefully be released one day. I still have hopes, even if the EP was already released over two years ago.

Right when I started to play “The Infernal Return” I was possessed by it, as the main theme in the short song “The Darkside Calls” is just classic Swedish death / black melody and could have easily been taken from either the early Necrophobic or Dark Funeral. And then “Of the Seven Gates” starts and that impression is even bigger! Really, this is fantastic track, maybe not as fast and totally uncompromising as the material on “Infernal” MLP, but it doesn’t mean it hasn’t got a necessary dose of aggression and fast, relentless blasting. It does, only it concentrates more on the melodic aspects of this sort of playing more, which isn’t bad at all and what definitely doesn’t rid the music off the aggression and ferocity. Arrghh, what’s more, I can say that this song really makes me feel like I travelled in time back to the times, when Parland was a member of Necrophobic and as the main composer did the materials for “Spawned by Evil” and “Darkside”. It sounds just incredibly great and I can say that it is yet another proof that the talent of David has been missed for such a long time and also almost wasted, because he hasn’t done an album since such a long time. Side B of the EP has a song titled “Godforsaken (With Hate I Burn)” and this one sounds so close to Dissection’s early outputs that one can make a mistake and think that it is a lost Dissection song. Partly it may be due to the fact that it is even more melodic than “Of the Seven Gates” and it is also slower, without any blasting at all. It is less dynamic and it also ends quite abruptly, making an impression like it wasn’t finished, but if I can say that I like “Of the Seven Gates” more it doesn’t mean that “Godforsaken (With Hate I Burn)” is not good at all. It is also very good, solid song, only not as good as the previous one.

All in all, the whole EP leaves two impressions: one is great satisfaction from hearing some new songs from David Parland and two is lust for more, a hunger, which is difficult to resist and which for now I’ll have satisfy by playing “Infernal” MLP and “The Infernal Return”. I do hope that finally Mr Blackmoon will wake up from his slumber and crush the world with his music. I’m fucking waiting!

Final rate: 90/100