Incantation – Vanquish In Vengeance

Ah, New York City: the birthplace for so many music scenes. Hardcore and thrash metal in the 80’s and of course death metal in the 90’s. One of the bands that made some of the most sinister death metal records ever were Incantation. With genre classics such as “Onwards To Golgotha” (1992) and “Mortal Throne Of Nazarene” (1994) and equally as good later records, Incantation deserve to be praised as one of the most influential death metal bands in the business.

Their new album “Vanquish In Vengeance” comes in to prove just that. Starting off with the thunderous “Invoked Infinity” shunning the listener with it’s amazing riffage and atmosphere produced by McEntee‘s vocals broken by a kick ass headbanging riff in the middle. Should be a concert favorite. A doom/death twisted riff leads us to the next song “Ascend Into The Eternal“, an amazing slow track with some fast parts then back to the incredibly haunting intro riff. “Progeny Of Tyranny” is a fast neckbreaker with some slower trademark Incantation riffs spicing it up. Another doom/death track comes up next “Transcend Into Absolute Dissolution” that simply surrounds you with its dark and thick atmosphere including some great soloing.

Moving on to a groovy death metal track “Haruspex“, showing again doom/death riffage then speeding up in the middle just before an amazing solo. The title track is ripping through you with ferocity slowing down somewhere in the middle then blasting and thrashing till the end. A bass intro brings us “Profound Loathing” a haunting doom/death track and some small disarmonic chords here and there. Next is “The Hellions Genesis” kicking in with an amazing doom/death riff over McEntee’s screams then going into midtempo death metal to speed up again and back to great soloing by Alex Bouks over slower riffage (his work on this record is top notch). Headbanging continues with “From Hollow Sands“, one of the best tracks on the record and a neckbreaker from start to finish with a groovy break after the middle.

The last track is the longest on the record clocking at over 11 minutes, “Legion Of Dis” where we simply have the slowest most sinister possible riffage by Incantation going up only to mid tempo speed then back to slow riffing. From the middle of the song and forth we hear the use of samples and ambient elements from McEntee using his voice as additional feedback to the guitar sound.

The great production of the album adds to the already top notch material. Clear, heavy and crushing. Incantation with this album shows once again how to make hellish brutal music. Hail!