The Archaic Epidemic - Infinite Exile

Deathcore has been pretty much known as the ‘workout man’s music’ with its rather bludgeoning style over the years; only recently has it been expanded upon to be more than breakdowns. Pretty much fans of the genre either love or hate it with little in between while it is in its early 2000s state, but with more ‘accessibility’ by adding anything from symphonics to clean vocals it has garnered a little more love. Virginia’s The Archaic Epidemic give the genre and hopefully fans a little more on the love side versus hate with their new debut album “Infinite Exile.” While not as basic as A Night in Texas or grandiose as Lorna Shore, they fall more in line along the lushness Shadow of Intent and Sin Deliverance mixed with the crushing breakdowns of Signs of the Swarm to create a sound elevated above the usual expectations of the Deathcore genre. Expect a lot of hard riffs and venomous vocals of horror supported by the beauty of a lot of keyboard/ orchestration samples to create a whirlwind of 30 minutes of Metal that is pure synthesized Symphonic Deathcore.

This four piece has been around since 2021 but has been hard at work since the beginning with a massive amount of singles and a few EPs.  This new full length debut features most of those tracks with a few new ones. Those that know of the already know what to expect with the opening lull of the symphonics of ‘Fernweh’ as the orchestration builds before the riffs from Andrew Meisenheimer come in in their crunchy fashion with the trade off of shrieks and growls from vocalist Ian Smith who was in Betrayer alongside bassist Lukas Hubbard back in the day. Thanks to decent production the bass rumbles right along to support the guitars and the rhythmic drumming from Parker Yowell isn’t too bad either, but even that tends to get swept up in the storm of riffs and electronics when combined. Track after track The Archaic Epidemic crushes along, leaning sometimes more on their Deathcore roots on tracks like ‘Gravetongue’ which just shoots off like a cannon, but most of the album features that orchestral draw in to kick things off. A perfect example is ‘Imminence’ which is full of electronic samples and softness to balance out the crushing breakdowns and thunderous vocals that bellow and snarl and gurgle and sound monstrously inhuman; very close to CJ McCreery with the range. Almost bordering the line of Nu-Metal Hardcore bands like Thrown, The Archaic Epidemic use their slamming moments with really make it sound like bringing the hammer down with the levels of heaviness with how they structure their riffs and vocals and drums together for just pure savagery to start a 2 step mosh pit frenzy.

While some might feel like orchestrations on a tracks like ‘Eternal’ are a bit too softening despite the layered vocals and drum pounding assault (this is where one really will hear the Shadow of Intent influence), there is nothing that is considered soft about The Archaic Epidemic. There are no interludes or female vocals to really bring the symphonic experience full circle, but like their compatriots in the genre, “Infinite Exile” is meant to be a crushing experience that has just a bit more flavor than what most might be expecting rather than the meat and potatoes approach of a vocal and riff driven album. While at times the distortion does shake things up to near Slam brutal territory especially on a track like ‘Bed of Bones’ which just sounds like a static laden song with keyboard and vocals because they shroud everything, the modernized help does make this band garner a lot of attention to show they are more than a cut above the rest, taking things a step further than say your more average Deathcore output like Last 10 Seconds of Life which is breakdowns galore. For a while that and gauged ears were the joke of the genre, until bands like the Archaic Epidemic started doing what they are. Fans who like that mix of ‘beauty and beast’ in their Metal will be pleased. “Infinite Exile” might not be as progressive as Whitechapel or Enterprise Earth with more melodic sections and clean vocals, but it still hits hard and is worth checking out to the fullest.

4 / 5 STARS