Released by premier death metal label Testimony Records, Infectious Vermin is debut full-length from Kiel (Germany) based duo – Rats Of Gomorrah. For those of you that finds the names of Daniel Stelling (guitar/bass/vocals) and Moritz Paulsen (drums) familiar, it’s probably due to their involvement in Northern German death metal trio, Divide?!

Thus, duo started playing death metal in 2009, honoring the legacy of the likes of Vader, Carcass and Bolt Thrower. Out of respect for their previous works and acknowledging the changes, the two aforementioned Germans decided to change the name to Rats Of Gommorah. Infectious Vermin is their debut album released under their new name, and it consists of 13 old-school death metal tracks.

Infectious Vermin shows the band that isn’t afraid of creating something new; old-school death metal songs with a modern sound and a taste of black, doom and thrash metal. Thus we can hear varied vocal pitching, catchy choruses, a lot of grooves, disturbing melodies, down-tuned guitars, hard-hitting and relentless drums, and the bass contributing to the overall groove and atmosphere, adding a sense of drive and aggression.

My favourite tracks of Infectious Vermin are the opening “Swarming Death” (watch the full video below) and a track named “Narcissus”. “Swarming Death” is really an amalgamation of everything the band has to offer: a lot of grooves, hard-hitting drums and a catchy chorus! The same can be said for “Narcissus”, which is the epitome and a masterclass on old-school churning death metal. It lasts for barely over three minutes, but being no less potent than any of the other tracks from this overall very powerful release.

In conclusion; I found myself enjoying this forty-six minutes long journey in a company with Rats Of Gomorrah. This album rules, especially if you blast it on ten! The duo has been touring extensively since 2016, and I hope they’ll cross the border in north and present this opus to their Danish fans. Visit the band’s bandcamp and find out how to order your copy of this impressive, inspiring and varied death metal records with various influences.