THE SYNN REPORT (PART 182): INOCULATION

Recommended for fans of: Ulthar, Mithras, Cryptopsy

It honestly amazes me that we’ve never written about Inoculation before, outside of a few passing mentions here and there.

But with the recent release of their third album, Actuality, a few weeks ago now seems like the perfect time to address this terrible injustice.

You see, while the majority of the US Death Metal scene is currently (and, perhaps understandably) obsessed with the “New Wave of American Death Metal” (the most prominent names of which I’m sure you’re all aware) that updates and upgrades the classic OSDM sound for more modern ears, this crushing Cleveland trio – who firmed up and finalised their line-up in 2016, and released their first full-length in 2018 – draw just as much (if not more) influence from the late 90s/early 00s explosion of Brutal/Technical Death Metal bands.

That’s not to say that keen ears won’t be able to detect the influence of the likes of Death and Deicide here and there, but I’d argue that its bands like Demilich and Deeds of Flesh whose DNA has the most dominant impact on the band’s ultimate sound (especially after they shook off those early growing pains after their debut).

But don’t just take my word for it… give the band’s collective output a listen below and hear for yourselves (and, if you’re of a mind to, check out what else I’ve written too).

2018 – PURE COSMIC DREAD

The band’s debut album opens with the conglomeration of oppressive, ominous chords and spiky, barbed riffs that is “Hypnotic Regression”, immediately showcasing the focussed savagery and subtle technicality (including some nimble, nuanced bass work) of the band’s sound.

“Purity” then adds some even sharper, hookier riffs and a hefty helping of gruesomely infectious, Cannibal Corpse-esque groove (as well as a sprinkling of eerie atmosphere), while the slippery, writhing rhythms and spidery note patterns of “The Silencers” evince more of a Timeghoul/Nocturnus influence (with the two tracks serving as early back-to-back highlights of the record).

“Xa’ligha” then pushes the weird technicality of the music to the forefront a little more, mixing surging blastbeats and finger-mangling fretwork with a series of crunchy – and surprisingly catchy – staccato hooks, after which “Loss of Esoteric Profoundness” puts the pedal to the metal in a display of ugly, unrelenting extremity.

It’s the discordant, aneurysm-inducing riffs and dizzying bursts of speed which make up of the aptly-named “Bending of Time”, however, which hint at the band already beginning to ascend to the next level (with those Mithras-esque moments of shredding madness and irradiated cosmic atmosphere helping to seal the deal), with the more “blackened” strains of “Eye of Providence” and the shape-shifting (and unexpectedly, insidiously infectious) “Xx121” helping to keep both the quality and intensity levels just as high.

Closing with a triptych of short, sharp, sub-three minute shocks – the reckless, blast-driven “Pockets of Devastation”, the brain-melting, barely-controlled chaos of “Lunar Illusion 3” (another one of the record’s big highlights) and the monstrous title-track (also a major highlight, in my opinion) – Pure Cosmic Dread definitely lays down the groundwork for even bigger, better things to come.

2021 – CELESTIAL PUTRIDITY

On their second album it quickly becomes clear that the band have decided to emphasise the alien side of their sound a little more, with the title-track combining twitchy technicality, menacing hooks, and maddening, xenomorphic melody into one inhumanly lethal package, and the blisteringly brutal, creepily catchy “I Am Where the Foregods Meet” – which features an honest-to-gods bass solo by low-end powerhouse Nick Nedley at one point – both feeling that little bit stranger, and that little bit more savage, than the band’s debut.

The stunning technical precision of the group is on full display during “Verity Consumated”, especially in the vertiginous, high-velocity drum work and twisting, twanging bass lines, while the blend of bleeding-edge blastbeats and groaning,  gargantuan grooves which forms the core of mid-album stand-out “The Edge of Town” (just under five minutes of crushing riffage and creeping cosmic malevolence) continues to prove that Inoculation aren’t afraid of getting under your skin… even as they’re doing the best to strip the flesh from your bones.

“Unmade” is a bit more straightforward by comparison, relying mostly on unrelenting forward-momentum to keep the listener on their proverbial toes, with “Ovnis Triangulares” then building on this while also introducing a more angular and unpredictable edge (with the resultant concoction sitting somewhere between Nile and Blood Incantation on the “weird-to-wicked” scale), after which the spiralling guitars and dervish-like drumming of “Xerthaneus” recall a more vicious version of Gigan (to my ears at least).

And while penultimate track “Kaneh-Bosm” is a major stand-out in my mind – maintaining the same level of lunatic intensity while also adding an extra layer of neck-wrecking hookiness guaranteed to grab the listener’s attention – it’s the “cosmic Cryptopsy” strains of “Universal Entropy”, all limb-wrecking guitar contortions and hammering, blast ‘n’ burn rhythms, which really sets the stage for the next level of the band’s evolution.

2025 – ACTUALITY

As good as the band’s first two albums were, it’s on Actuality that we find them finally fulfilling their full potential, with viscerally heavy opener “Void Corpse Collection” picking up on those tentative Cryptopsy allusions from the last record and upping their presence and intensity ten-fold (while also doubling-down on the ominous atmospherics and strafing, stop-start rhythmic hooks which cleverly balance catchiness and chaos).

“Plasmic Mutations” is just under three-and-a-half minutes of neck-snapping blastbeats, nerve-jangling bass-lines and frantic, feverish riffage concealing an unexpected undercurrent of melodic malice, while “Divergent Timeline” lurches and surges and grinds its way through just under three minutes of brutish technicality reminiscent of Outer Heaven at their best, leading into the inhumanly aggressive intensity and other-worldly melody of “Structure of Secrecy” (think Deeds of Flesh via Morbid Angel).

The almost unrelenting blastbeats and constant kick-hammers of “A Subtle Body” really show off the talents of drummer Charlie Winters (eat your heart out John Longstreth), though personally I prefer the chugging, churning grooves of “Orbital Decay” – which provide a real gut-punch to the album’s mid-section – and the cruelly catchy riffs and virulent vocal hooks of “Anthropomorphic Vestige” (whose title you’ll be growling under your breath for a long time, I bet you) as examples of just how good this album is.

“Unobservable Phenomenon” continues the album’s trend of injecting some disturbingly infectious pseudo-melody into their bludgeoning brand of brutal technicality (not to mention some unsettling atmospheric ambience), with “Cerebral Transmissions” pushing the extremity levels even further into the red, mixing pure metallic violence and disgusting sonic virulence together in a way that Cattle Decapitation would definitely approve of, before the pure riffosity of closer “Star Devil Predator” (which showcases the terrifically versatile talents of guitarist Anthony Allen in all their glory) hammers home the fact that Inoculation are not a band you (or we) can afford to overlook or ignore any longer.