Something went wrong, terribly wrong. Don’t know, maybe the band owe something to the artist who draw the cover or the band (consisting of two brothers) is blind as a bat. Whatsoever, in fact this piece of cover art is just hideous, monstrous, ghastly and awful. A pain in the eye. But never judge a book by its cover and this phrase was never more fitting than regarding “The Great Shadow Infiltrator”, the second release by FAITHXTRACTOR, from Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. For me this output is one of the more enjoyable releases this year. Firstly, the sound is pretty old school, the guitars sound like back in the 1990s, Swedish Death Metal, you know? Same goes for the opening guitar attack and just when thinking you are listening to a rehearsal tape discovered in the ruins of Sunlight Studio the band surprises by turning towards American style Death Metal like IMMOLATION, but due to the divided vocals reminding above all of HATE ETERNAL. As if this was not enough, the title track is pure ASPHYX like Doom Death Metal and ‘The Eye At The Divide’ is a puristic homage to BOLT THROWER. “The Great Shadow Infiltrator” is an unholy, monolithic bastard, combing the best Death Metal has to offer. And for the next time, please, a different artwork. www.facebook.com/pages/faithxtractor/340370382698945, www.deathgasm.com