It's no surprise to find out that
Diabolic
hails from Tampa, Florida, the birthplace of America's pioneering
death metal
scene in the 1990s. Unlike the European deathsters putting out a multitude of influential releases in the early '00s,
, on third album
Infinity Through Purification
, eschews melody for technical precision, buying wholesale into the whirlwind-drums/tangle-of-riffs songwriting school pioneered by fellow Floridians
Morbid Angel
. So while
Infinity
isn't one of the most original works in the genre, most extreme
metal
punters will find a few convincingly brutal moments early in the record's playing time: the dynamic tempo shifts and solid riffery of
"Satanic Barbarism,"
the brilliant guitar leads of
"Spiritual Transition,"
and the face-melting intro to lightspeed album-opener
"From the Astral Plane ... Entwined with Infinity."
Alas, after three tracks,
walks the line between compelling and dull, the group's notable musicianship barely keeping the remaining tracks from becoming a blur of riffs, blastbeats, and blandly guttural vocals. Main reference points include the aforementioned
,
Deicide
, and the ugly grind of mid-period
Napalm Death
-- in other words,
is firmly and unapologetically rooted in '90s
, at times surprisingly good, and not without merit, but still a step behind its more innovative European peers. ~ John Serba