"Don’t let the Dimmu Borgir-ish three word album title fool you, this isn’t flowery, or synth filled or even remotely trendy, this is a guitar driven, war metal styled release that reminds me if fellow Illinoisans Forest of Impaled, the UKs Spearhead and maybe a stripped down Behemoth with its deft mix of death metal and black metal. Though vocally, things are more on the death metal side with a gruff, but understandable throaty roar/rasp, musically things are a competent mix of melodic death/black metal and death metal, but with plenty of heft and militant/Romanic war marches thrown in.
Admittedly, Infinite Titanic Immortal takes a little while to find its footing with introduction “Of Fire and Division” and “Prometheus Rebound” doing little to grab my attention, but the killer trio of “This King Never Smiles”, “Season of the Starved Wolf” and “Twin Heads of Vengeance” snarl from the speakers with a supine mix of melody and scathing slicing riffs with stern war marches, I am truly impressed by the bands scope and skill. In fact, every track on the album is a keeper after the first two tracks (with the exception of interlude “The Dark Road”). The production is frosty blackness and death metal heft combined perfectly for a crystal clear clarion that gives tracks like “Heka Secundus (On Slithering Ice)”, Behemoth-ish is gait of “We Soulless Men” and epically blistering “Eclipse of Serpents” (an arguable standout if I had to choose one) a presence and confidence many debuts simply lack. Even six minute instrumental closer “Rime” kept my attention, and I really don’t care for instrumentals.
Rather than simply be another The Black Dahlia Murder rip off, A Hill to Die Upon has forged their own path of battle hardened and epic European influences and come away with one of the more impressive American black metal debuts of 2009, if not the last couple of years (with the exception of Krallice). Abigail who?
Oh, did I mention this is a Christian band? My bad, guess I should have mentioned that earlier, eh?"
review taken from TeethOfTheDivine.com
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