UMUR "Dark Century" is the debut and sole full-length studio album by Swiss death metal act Infected. It was recorded in June 1989 at Magnetix Recording Studio Wetzikon and released through Far Out Records later in 1989. Infected formed in 1987, released "Dark Century", and disbanded in 1990. So it´s safe to say they were a relatively shortlived act.

Given the fact that "Dark Century" was released in 1989 it´s actually one of the earlier releases in death metal, although both 1987 and 1988 had spawned a few (but very significant) death metal releases too. It´s not an album nor a band I heard about back then, and I only came across them now by chance, so they didn´t make as much impact as contemporaries like Pestilence, Death, Morbid Angel, and Obituary did. There is a reason for that though, as the material on "Dark Century" is simply by the numbers old school death metal (even by the standards of 1989). It´s decent enough while it plays and Infected are fairly well playing too, but the music is pretty unremarkable. Not surprisingly the basis of the music are brutal thrash influenced riffs, intelligible growling vocals, and some pretty well played drums. But little stands out and makes you able to immediately identify this as the sound of Infected.

"Dark Century" features a decent production job, but it´s not up to par with the best contemporary productions, and it´s just another feature on the album, which ultimately makes it a decent but not great listen. As an example of an early European death metal release "Dark Century" still has some merit, but it´s neither a seminal nor a mandatory listen for fans of the genre. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.