Inferi – Heaven Wept
Release Date: 10th April 2026
Label: The Artisan Era
Bandcamp
Genre: Technical Death Metal
FFO: Archspire, The Zenith Passage, Beyond Creation, Arkaik.
Review By: Trina Julian Edwards
Nashville technical melodic death metal band, Inferi, return to the scene with the follow-up to 2021’s Vile Genesis, Heaven Wept, releasing on Friday, April 10, via The Artisan Era. The band initially formed in 2006, but they did not release anything commercially until their reunion in 2011 and the debut of The Path of Apotheosis in 2014. Inferi made a name for themselves on the world stage with 2018’s Revenant, and they have remained on the ascendant. They have long been one of the most dependable mainstays of the tech death genre, both ushering in and riding the wave of the melodic, brutal, and terrifyingly technical style we’ve come to think of as the quintessential tech death sound. A new Inferi album is both exciting and daunting, often defying my descriptive powers, such as they are. Yet Heaven Wept is a bit of a different beast. It’s certainly no less technical, but, stay with me here, it feels less like George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series, with its expansive, complex storylines, and more like his The Dunk and Egg Stories with a smaller, more linear narrative.
The band has seen several line-up changes between Vile Genesis and Heaven Wept, including bass player Andrew Kim leaving to join Brand of Sacrifice, drummer Spencer Moore departing to join Archspire, and guitarist Mike Low leaving to focus more on the production side of the business. However, the band is hardly bereft of talent. Heaven Wept features Stevie Boiser on lead vocals, Malcolm Pugh on guitar, bass, orchestration, and vocals, Sanjay Kumar (Wormhole, Greylotus, Equipoise) on guitar and orchestration, and
Spencer Moore on drums, with Nate Bigelow (Arkaik/Singularity) filling in on live performances in the interim. The album was mixed and mastered by Low, who also engineered the drums. Heaven Wept also takes a slight detour on theming, with more fantasy and less sci-fi in the narrative. Yet all the changes haven’t seemed to slow them down, pun intended, they seem to have given the band a new fire.
The Rapture of Dead Light immediately explodes into action. The lively pace flies through the verses, slowing down to highlight the chorus before taking off again. It’s rather like taking a roundabout before speeding off down the road. I’m getting The Black Dahlia Murder vibes in some of the progressions and the vocals, which, by the way, are incredible. Boiser has continued to perfect his style over the years, and he’s at the top of his game here. The lows couldn’t be better, and the highs are more refined. We know the rhythms will be complex and precise, and the compositions will be dynamic, so that’s no surprise, plus Pugh has a knack for writing and arranging technical music that is still very accessible. However, unless my ears deceive me, there’s almost a hint of a groove here, especially in those impeccable dueling solos. This track has a good mix of elements from their older and newer works, so long-time fans will likely note the evolution. If you haven’t seen the music video for this track yet, you’ll definitely want to check it out for a good laugh. It’s linked at the bottom of this review. I love that they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Feed Me Your Fear has a more deliberate opening, where you can actually take a second to think about what you’re listening to. However, you know that state of affairs won’t last long with these guys. They burst into a frantic pace around 1:20, slowing again briefly for the chorus, at least in the guitars and vocals, while Moore’s drums continue relentlessly strafing the landscape. The orchestral elements give the chorus an epic feel, which is a familiar plot device from previous recordings, but they’re used sparingly and to good effect. The guitars are the drivers of the track, hurtling through the verses and turning on a dime. Boiser’s excellent vocals are utilized exactly where they’re needed to further the storyline, and not just shoehorned in to show off for the vocal Olympics. I also love how the chunky riffs at the end provide some ballast to weigh everything down.
Master of Nothing feels a little more straightforward than its predecessors. It’s in your face brutal and fast as hell, reminding you of exactly what Inferi is capable of when they really let it rip, although they do slow their roll around the 1:35 mark to let you catch your breath. The leads are still the drivers, but it’s just a bit less proggy and a little more techy. The legato melody lines over the more noodley bits are just gorgeous, and the symphonic elements are perfectly placed to add drama to the narrative. I love everything about this track.
The intro to Eternally Lie is a scorcher, continuing the full-on assault from the previous track. The frenetic pace slows around 2:15, with a dramatic instrumental section complete with strings and Boiser’s spooky, disembodied voice. The tension begins to build again around 3:08, bursting into a climax of fiery guitars. The pace remains on the slower side through to the end, but it highlights the almost cinematic expansiveness they’ve created here in the latter part of the track.
Heaven Wept stomps into existence like some massive giant making its way across the valley, and the orchestral elements with the choir add to the weighty, epic feel. However, these elements remain firmly in their place, punctuating the narrative but never picking up the thread from the leads. The track doesn’t remain at the more ponderous pace either; it picks up speed with all the warning of a lightning strike, and the guitars squall across the soundscape with some hell yeah 80s energy. It should be out of place with the orchestra and the choir, but somehow it adds to the overall mammoth aesthetic.
Atonement Denied is one of the more overtly melodic tracks. It has a lively pace and feels like what I tend to think of as more traditional melodic death metal with techy elements — especially in the punchy guitar that provides the rhythmic foundation to some particularly fine solos. The guitar work in this track is phenomenal, with virtuosity that is shocking in its agility at such speeds. The vocals are dynamic and add some really nice texture to offset the polished guitar tones.
Compositionally speaking, Of Rotted Wombs is one of the most dynamic and cinematic. It feels huge, with the strings and choir punching through the chaos to add just the right touch of drama. The guitars weave in and out of your consciousness, from beautiful, melodic leads floating just beyond reach and the speedy, techy onslaught threatening to drag everything down in its undertow. Boiser’s vocals fit this theatrical piece perfectly, with just the right intensity for this type of gripping narrative.
The final track is Godless Sky, which begins with the most nerve-wracking intro, setting the stage for humanity’s last chapter. The ominous piano and strings are textbook horror-film indicators that things are about to go sideways. The chugging, mid-tempo rhythm plows inexorably through everything in its path, with those hellishly gorgeous leads and nightmarish vocals leading you further into the world-ending upheaval. The rhythmic changes in this composition keep the track from bogging down at the slower pace, and Boiser’s stellar vocals are both measured and terrifying, giving the listener a kind of existential dread, knowing there’s no escape from what’s coming. It’s very well done and makes for a very satisfying ending.
Overall, Heaven Wept is one of the best releases in Inferi’s catalogue, and that’s saying something. I have enjoyed all of their previous albums, but I’ll go on record stating that Heaven Wept is one of my favorite things they’ve done. Each song is distinct, but the album is very cohesive, with a clear progression in the storyline that is mirrored by the incremental epicness in the music. There’s nothing super groundbreaking here, but why should there be? Although I definitely feel like some of these tracks have a bit of a groove that I haven’t heard before. The line-up changes seem to have incorporated a few new elements and new ideas that are working in their favor. There’s no huge jump in their evolution either, but it’s easy to hear that Heaven Wept is the culmination of all of those years of hard work. Any changes feel very natural, and nothing seems forced or formulaic, despite having a few elements in common with other bands in the genre. Fortunately, they’ve dodged a trap that is very easy for tech death bands to fall into, but they’ve set a new bar for themselves that will be hard to live up to in the coming releases. Judging from their previous track record, though, I think they’ve got a good shot. Don’t miss Heaven Wept by Inferi on Friday, April 10th.
(5 / 5)
