Simulakra – The Infection Spreads
Release Date: 24th May 2021
Label: DAZE
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore, Metallic Hardcore, Death Metal.
FFO: Lifesick, Invoke, Vamachara, Wanderer.
Review By: Ryan Payne
Next up, we have the metallic hardcore 5 piece from Delaware, Simulakra, with their debut album “The Infection Spreads”. The album is a follow-up to their first EP from 2018 “Tales from the Fevered Subconscious” and is a 10 track, head splitting bomb of sound telling the story of disease, death and government control. The album is mainly hardcore based, but the band have gone in a more experimental direction with this release; throwing in some elements of death metal and thrash to give it a primal edge.
“The Infection Spreads” has a very raw sound to it compared to more current hardcore bands and the vocals are a lot harsher, not much dynamics in his delivery, but he makes up for it with the aggressive delivery of every word, but unfortunately if he keeps up the way he’s going, he won’t be able to perform like that long term. The music on this record is great, some very solid riffs and very impressive drumming to compliment it. The tempo changes for some of the heavier riffs are definitely something to be admired as well, it’s a more old-school approach to the modern day take of the same technique, and it really works throughout the album.
Although I did like listening through this album, I couldn’t help but get the feeling it was too repetitive. There was no major change in dynamics in any of the songs, besides the 2 “filler” tracks, and it just felt like every song was too similar to the other and towards the end, it got predictable and not as enjoyable. Some fans may enjoy this album more than I did but for me, it was a good listen with a lot of great ideas but once you’ve listened to one song, there was no need to go through the rest. 
(2 / 5)
