This is brutal death metal. The sonic trademarks of that subgenre are more or less as follows: blasting drums, post-
Cannibal Corpse downtuned riffing with plenty of high-pitched squeals as accent marks, mostly inaudible bass that registers as a rumble around the edges of the mix, and totally incomprehensible vocals that sound like they're coming from the drain of a badly malfunctioning toilet.
Inherit Disease touch all the bases, but they do it extremely well, lifting themselves out of the herd in the process. Drummer Dan Osborn is particularly noteworthy, as his ringing snare sound and relatively light touch bring him in line with great metal players like
Lamb of God's
Chris Adler or
Napalm Death's Danny Herrera. Guitarist Derek De Roos is capable of great speed and precise articulation, while still maintaining an essential humanity which players of more technical death metal sometimes lose. Bassist Josh Welling follows him almost exactly, but is still a presence in the mix, which is a compliment to both him and engineer/mixer
Samur Khouja. Vocalist Obie Flett sounds utterly inhuman, which is the point. There are guest vocalists on three songs ("Birth of the Artilect," "Digital Rapture," and "Maelstrom of Vindictive Torment"), but you can't tell, and that's also probably the point. "Digital Rapture" also features a cool little interlude that's hard to describe, but quite captivating as a break from all the blasting and downtuned chugging. This is a very good album that will make fans of the genre very happy indeed. ~ Phil Freeman