Here they come: a crawling, sprawling, gnawing mass of vicious rodents on a rampage. Rats of Gomorrah unleash their debut full-length “Infectious Vermin” onto a horrified world. If the image of a malicious horde of rats does not give you the creeps, maybe the fact that “Infectious Vermin” is the result of the German duo’s frustration with the metal scene and it’s reluctance to any change does. No worries, although Rats of Gomorrah are averse to simply regurgitating all the tired cliches of an average death metal album, they have not completely abandoned that ship. They just took some detours into heavy and speed metal territory, kept vocal pitching varied, and added some hot spices such as crust-infused riffs and catchy choruses. Rats of Gomorrah are one of those bands that have a much longer story behind them than their emergence under that name suggests. Strictly speaking the German duo only crawled out of their hole with a new rodent moniker in 2023. Yet they also started out with over a decade of death metal experience under their pelt. Guitarist and vocalist Daniel Stelling and Moritz Paulsen on drums had already been a part of the internationally active Northern German death metal trio DIVIDE since 2009, which had become a duo in 2016. Hopefully, by now there is an itchy feeling on your skin, and rustling noises from behind your walls, while a sense of dread and panic is spreading. The best antidote: blast “Infectious Vermin” on ten – and never a rat will you ever see more. Well, maybe a neighbour or four knocking on your door. So what?! Tell them all that Rats of Gomorrah rule supreme!