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Well-made and powerfully executed Death Metal always makes your day, right? Well, if you just happen to be a sucker for this type of extreme music...

Enter raging American Death Metal horde Fisthammer who released their second album, Infallible, at the beginning of 2014. Musically, they sound like a filthy and unholy cross between The Netherlands' Pestilence and Germany's Necrophagist, with occasional Black and Thrash Metal ingredients, making things even a bit sweeter, in my book, at least. There's definitely something old and something new in the band's sound on Infallible.

Fisthammer plays technical, atmospheric and slightly unorthodox Death Metal that is meant to stir excitement among extreme Metal fans, no doubt. They have a bunch of crushing vocal and guitar work squeezed into this opus and the songs reek of brutality and technicality, elements that melt together seamlessly. It's really difficult to find fault with this opus because the most important dynamics are consistently present. Perhaps the most experimental work on the album is the song "Automaton of Flesh'" which differs from the rest of the record due to some strong, almost jazzy, bass work (start listening at the 1:54 minute mark). The bass' interplay with guitar is unusual and very eerie, giving the song an avant-garde, Black Metal melody. This song is a work of genius.

Infallible is a prime example of Death Metal that unites the old with the modern world and managing to keep things exciting, even for the casual fan of this particular Metal genre, and Fisthammer do it with style. Vocalist (and guitarist) Max Svalgard get a small parrot patch from me, to be attached to his leather jacket, for sounding incredibly like Patrick Mameli of Pestilence when bellowing his deepest and meanest death grunts. Now, I only need to find the band's debut album, Devour All You See, somewhere...