Taipei Metal

Review: Rancorous - Infernal Coldness, 2007

Infernal Coldness is a darker offering from Thailand's Rancorous than their 2005 album, In the Circle of Throne. The slight layer of cheese from that album has been scraped off this time around, though a little has been left behind. The galloping power metal delivery is still present at times, but the riffs played over top seem darker than the uplifting riffs on their previous album—a shift away from the band's power metal influences towards the darker side of their record collection, where mainstream black metal discs by bands such as Dimmu Borgir are kept.

Listening to Infernal Coldness can be confusing at times. The music changes directions often, from light to dark, from black metal infused tracks to those peppered by power metal. This contrast is even apparent in the song titles, with “In the Darkest Night” and “Voices of Hope” being the most obvious examples. Perhaps this was what Rancorous had in mind when they wrote this record, the juxtaposition of bleak and hopeful, stark black and blinding white. If one were to substitute clean vocals over the band's black metal shrieks you would have a heavier version of a power metal or even a speed metal band. Then again, if a few blast beats were scattered around, as is the case on the record's final track, “The Beginning of Sentiment,” you would have a more accessible version of a mainstream black metal band such as Graveworm. Rancorous exists somewhere in between power metal and black metal, in their own musical space, where the different sides of their musical personalities do battle. Black metal, virtuoso, power metal, and speed metal all wage war on one another, and what we are left with is the soundtrack of the ensuing apocalyptic fight.