By the looks of the title of this album, you would think we are about to take a course in ancient history, and learn about the 1600s when The Parliament of England sat for the first time. Well, you're not entirely wrong. Elysian is referred to the conception of afterlife, grandeval originates from the 1600s era meaning 'rare', and galériarch, translating to 'galleries'. So, it roughly translates to "The Heavenly Ancient Galleries. Fitting, right? After years of being incognito, Infant Annihilator has arose from the dead, and blessed this planet with some new material, with a new vocalist in Dickie Allen, and has left us gaped, and wanting more and more deathcore.
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A little background on the group for ones who do not know who they are, and that would be my "non-deathcore" friends. InfantAnnihilator, a controversial trio of talent, first released material back in 2012 called The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution. The trio consisted of the ground-shaking drummer Aaron Kitcher, the guitar overlord Eddie Pickard and disgusting vocalist Dan Watson. They threw a song and video out for us, Decapitation Fornication, that left a mark on the deathcore community, and left us wondering what was next from them. Shortly after this, we receive TPLOP and we couldn't of been happier. The album was over-the-top with brutal lyrics, beatdowns and breakdowns - even the titles of the songs are interesting in themselves. Sadly though, Dan left the trio to join forces with Enterprise Earth, while Eddie and Aaron returned to their duties in Black Tongue - a Doomcore band from England. This left us wondering, was this the end of IA?
Fast forward to 2016 and a random video pops up on the once extinct Infant Annihilator page, asking us "Do you like EGGS?" and can hear a intense growl afterwards. This was the indication that IA was back, and ready to satisfy our lust for more heavy, controversial deathcore. The only problem was, who would be the vocalist. After this shock video left us wondering, we got an answer about a week later. Dickie Allen, an ex-vocalist to Dealey Plaza, would do the honors of leading the charge into battle with new material from the internet-band, turned into a very successful group and we quickly learn this new album would go by the name of The Elysian Grandeval Galériarch.
Lets take a dive in, and examine this beautiful masterpiece.
On the opening track Unholy Gravebirth, we are greeted with the same style of intro, that was found on TPLOP, but Dickie explodes into the song with his monster-like vocals and quickly makes an impact and we know that very second, Dickie was going to fit in just fine. Eddie and Aaron give us the reminiscent memories of their work from TPLOP, but also show us how much maturity they bring to this album. Dickie's style and range of vocal talent cannot be matched as he blows through this song, into track two - Crucifilth.
Chugging along with hard hitting beats and breakdowns, led mainly by Aaron's magnificent drum talents, Dickie flows along with some unrecognizable lyrics that - lets face it - you have to read along with from DarkLyrics, and even then, it's a challenge to keep up with. The song ends with a riff-filled guitar solo by Eddie, and of course, more disgusting vocal talent from Allen. Before you know it, you're to Motherless Miscarriage, the short, but hard hitting track with that incredibly inappropriate and ridiculously provocative music video. Dickie sweeps you off your feet, while the ending is heard when a woman is frantic, pleading to the Lord. As the outro builds up, the smooth flowing transition into Baptised. Bastardised. Sodomised. makes you believe it's all one track.
In my opinion, this song carries the best intro ever recorded for a song, as the slow beat-down pattern leads to Dickie's explosive energetic vocals is matched by Aaron's incredible speed and agility on the drum segment of the song. The intro itself will make you repeat the track to obsess over it, time and time again. Once again, the track ends with a perfect solo from Eddie, while "Hail the Tyrant" is screamed.
Infant Annihilator outdid themselves on this album, giving us a story-like track with Behold the Kingdom of the Wretched Undying. This seventeen-minute marathon has a number of guest vocalists, to help pave the way for a perfect mid-album track. Vocal talents include Bryan Long, of Dealey Plaza, Dillon Becker of AnimalFarm, Chris Whited from King Conquer, and probably the most anticipated featured vocalist, Tyler Shelton of Traitors. All featured artists absolutely destroyed their parts, and their vocals and seemed to add a perfect blend to Dickie and his, as well as the theme and rhythm of this song.
"Soil the Stillborn," the groups first single off the album, takes its turn at making an impact and trying to keep up, following a track with five of the heaviest vocalists out there at the moment. The controversial lyrics continue as the subject of rape is thrown throughout the track, as the energy does not change going into a short, one minute solo from Eddie in Paedophillic Ultimatum.
Track eight on The EGG destroys your ears with quick firing lyrics and vocals in Neutered in Utero. The song features not only the lyric display and complex word play of Dickie, but also includes some additional sick guitar work and drum percussion from the duo of Black Tongue. The closeout of the song flows, once again, wonderfully into Pelts of Innocent Flesh. This, and Blasphemian, close out the album. The two songs each run over seven minutes, and pack a punch just like the rest of the album does. Stories are continued to be told throughout the closing of the album, as well as the hard hitting breakdowns, and riffs scattered throughout. A perfect close out to the album in Neonatalimpalionecrophiliation, a word in which I will let you figure out on your own. The lightning fast twelve-second solo seems to top off the masterpiece of work, as you are left setting with your mind blown and so, so happy that you took the time out of your day to listen to this material.
In conclusion: this album is a masterpiece, and can be put into discussions as the best deathcore album of all time. It by far overtakes the spot for 2016, and it will be around, on everyone's playlist for a very long time. I again, could not find a negative thing to say about this album. It's very organized, hard hitting, matured and perfected, and will be talked about for years to come. IA set the bar high for deathcore, and will challenge all to try and keep up.
10/10
