Incantation: From Best to Worst

The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish (1997)

From the ending of 'Lusting Congregation of Perpetual Damnation (Eternal Eden)' through the brief interlude of 'Triumph of Blasphemy' and then the beginning of title track 'Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish', I do believe that that is Incantation's most brilliant showcase throughout their entire career. For that section alone 'The Forsaken...' is by FAR my favorite Incantation release. Forget the fact that Craig Pillard is hardly "on top of his game". Forget the fact that I could have done without the "ok" cover of Death's 'Scream Bloody Gore. Forget the fact that this is merely an -ep-. The aforementioned musical passage is perhaps the most evil thing I've yet to hear from a death metal band. Shit, metal band period. 

Onward to Golgotha (1992)

Along with Immolation's debut 'Dawn of Possession', this put 'evil' death metal on the map. Forget all of the black metal bitches standing in front of the mirror trying to make sure they got their corpsepaint right. Though to be fair, 'Golgotha' sounds more like a boat-ride across the River Styx en route to Medusa's Isle more than it does a straight-up "satanic" album. Sure, all of the tell-tale signs of blasphemy and sacrilege are in order but there has always been that oppressive gloom hovering over Incantation's earlier work that the homo's in Norway could not even begin to fathom nor penetrate. 

Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994)

Perhaps having an even more oppressive and dark atmosphere than 'Golgotha', 'Nazarene' is the epitome of doom and gloom. Craig Pillard's vocals here sound like an angry storm cloud emitting catastrophic woe upon the human masses gathered before him. All of the bizarre eccentricities introduced earlier by guitarist John McEntee are further explored and perverted this time 'round and the results are downright horrific. Trust me, choosing between this and 'Golgotha' is no easy task and I suppose that 'Golgotha' stole the number two spot merely for nostalgia's sake but make no mistake, this is every bit as frightening and grotesque as that album and perhaps it makes sense that it is hardly mentioned in conversations debating the band's classic albums as its darkness may be a bit to overwhelming for most to endure.

Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies (1991)

This was my first taste of the band's bitter fruits and it will always have a special place in my black heart. Worth hearing for the different ending in the title track. Tasty and rotten little morsel of old. 

Blasphemy (2002)

This is perhaps the band's final excursion into the labyrinthine confines of their earlier wave. After the frightfully bland 'The Infernal Storm' (not quite. More like a few rain drops) Incantation seemingly regrouped in order to reestablish the style and approach most dear to their hearts. While Mike Saez is no Craig Pillard by any stretch he does not offend either. I very much preferred him over Daniel Corchado whose blackened rasp I feared would be the end of Incantation. Thankfully and for whatever reason he was ousted and the next two albums would be fronted by Mike whose Pillard-"lite" vocal renditions fit in much better.

Some of the riffs and patterns on this album I rank among the band's best. The tortured harmonics are here in force as are some of the band's more colossal and depressing slabs of doom. Unfortunately, Saez' run with the band would come to an end shortly after thus ushering fourth the era of the John McEntee fronted Incantation. Gnarly and blasphemous album cover art (by former Incantation member and co-founder himself, Paul Ledney) and a much appreciated detour from Incantation's then go-to gal, Miran Kim.

Diabolical Conquest (1998)

Musically, this is on the same page as the first two albums. Vocally, however, this is a fucking abomination. How Incantation thought it was a good idea to replace Craig Pillard with Daniel Corchado is beyond me. Sure, Corchado used to sound good during his tenure with Cenotaph but the Corchado of '98 sounded like a haggard and used up whore whose throat had been irreparably banged up from years of gagging on cock for rocks. 'Diabolical Conquest', to me, is a lot like Entombed's 'Clandestine'. Great album marred by shitty vocals. This was also, in my opinion, the beginning of mediocre album covers painted by Miran Kim. Granted, it's still pretty sick (though I've never been a big fan of the cover's bird-faced cherub in the center of it all) but there's that gnawing feeling of 'been there, done that' every time I look at it.

Dirges of Elysium (2014)

Probably the best McEntee fronted Incant album, though really, at this point the band is WAY past their prime and really only circling the drain. McEntee sounds his most convincing here but unfortunately that's not sayin' much. There are a few moments, riff-wise, that I was genuinely surprised by in terms of, dare-I-say... "moving forward"? No, I doubt Incantation's been listening to Astra or The Dillenger Escape Plan, but they've gone so far down their own beaten path that even the most minute of changes seems otherwordly at this point. Minus the soul-stripping mix of Dan Swano and of course McEntee's vocals, this could've been a pretty damn good album. I do have to say, though... 'Dirges of Elysium' boasts one of my favorite Incantation album covers second only to 'Mortal Throne...' itself. That's one thing the band has, for the most part, consistently gotten right (with the exception of 'Primordial Domination').

Vanquish in Vengeance (2012)

In truth, this and the band's latest (Dirges of Elysium) are about even as far as quality goes. It's hard to pick one above the other. This one only scores less due to (surprise) McEntee's weaker vocal performance. Sure, it's not the catastrophic laugh-fest of previous albums, but I'm always going to long for the days of Craig Pillard. It's kinda sad considering that musically this aint bad at all. Nope. Not by a stretch. Also of note is the gnarly album cover courtesy of Worthless (ex-Deteriorot, Famine) which, to me, sort of hearkens back to 'The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish'.

The Infernal Storm (2000)

Where Diabolical Conquest had good music and shitty vocals, The Infernal Storm was a reverse scenario. The Infernal Storm is by fucking FAR the most anemic of Incantation's sonic output. The guitars have a really wimpy sound to them, like they were tuned up by some technical/jazz faggot and the bass sound is very sterile and jacked up in the mix. Awful. The songs too are just unbelievably lame. There is ZERO of the storming evil of old here. The only thing good about this album are the vocals of Mike Saez who sounds like a slightly less menacing Craig Pillard which is STILL fucking better than the homo from the last album! Unfortunately, Saez input is not enough to save this sinking ship. Frankly, I figured it was all over for Incantation at this point and was pleasantly surprised with how good their next album, 'Blasphemy' turned out to be.

Decimate Christendom (2004)

This is the album where Lucky the Leprechaun himself decided to finally take control of mic duties. It seemed like the logical thing to do, sure, considering the revolving door of frontmen the band had gone through up until that point. Unfortunately, John McEntee possesses ZERO percentage of the power or menace required to be 'The Voice' of Incantation. Even the music here is merely a tired retread of the glories of old. Granted, there a a few moments of the genius of McEntee's riff-writing found here and there but I'm led to believe that the dual endeavor of singing and playing guitar forced John to write around his newfound responsibility as frontman therefore playing it safe. Another one of those Incantation albums that probably would've sounded better had they procured the services of a more fitting vocalist.

As if it were a sign of things to come, 'Decimate...' boasts what is easily the most bland and bloodless of Miran Kim's album covers.

Primordial Decimation (2006)

Small wonder that this would be the last Incantation album for five years. You could tell that they needed a break. The creative well had just about run dry and John's comical death metal "vocals" just really made a mockery of an already bad situation. Shit, even the shamefully generic album cover seems to serve as an omen of sorts. The beginning riff to the first song is about as good as it gets. After that, sayonara suckers. 

It's really hard for me to join in the festivities that praise this band for "remaining true" and "never changing" blah, blah, blah... because the truth is, they did change. They went from godly to mediocre. 

Incantation - Dirges of Elysium (2014)

'Dirges of Elysium' finds Incantation further exploring the territory mapped out on their last album, 'Vanquish in Vengeance'. It's strange because on one side of the coin the band have matured dramatically, even within the small time that has passed from their last album to this and yet there are moments scattered throughout that come across as rather bland and seem not to bother to penetrate the imagination but are just sort of there as a last minute attempt to fill in the gaps.

Now, anyone familiar with my previous reviews for Incantation are undoubtedly privy to my dissatisfaction with John McEntee's work on the mic. I've always felt that he possessed no real vocal power and at times sounded catastrophically goofy. I cannot say that he has fully transcended these criticisms but I was definitely surprised to hear him cough up his strongest performance to date. It sounds as if he finally gave up on attempting to match the low-end of former Incant vocalist Craig Pillard and decided to concentrate more on 'power'. I have to say that I am fairly impressed by this. However, John has continued to embellish each song with his now familiar and highly annoying rasp and as long as he does that no Incantation album will come close to the dizzying heights of 'Golgotha' or 'Nazarene'.

The other downer that has plagued Incant since 'The Infernal Storm' is the neutered guitar sound they've been working with. Yeah, yeah, everyone from here to Timbuk 2 will be singing praises about how accurate this album is to Incantation's long and glorious career and sure, everybody's entitled to their opinion but the fact of the matter is that Incant hasn't truly sounded gloomy in quite some time.

I do have to give the band a mighty grip of props for yet again blowing my mind in the album cover department. Holy shit!!! I am simultaneously reminded of former Incantation go-to gal Miran Kim as well as Larry Carrol's work with Slayer. Absolutely stunning! The band really cracked it outta the park with this one.

'Dirges of Elysium' is not a bad album and I'm glad to see these guys back so quickly after their previous full-length but unfortunately this is just not the type of shit I want to hear from them. The album (along with everything Incant's released since '04) would not sound so bad with a better, more convincing vocalist but once McEntee emits one of his shrieks I am bummed beyond belief. From Pillard to this. Oddly enough, I find at least a few of the bands that have steadfastly emulated (robbed) Incantation's sound to be infinitely more compelling at this point. Oh well, there's always vanilla.

The Way's Top 5 Most Blasphemous & Evil Sounding Death Metal Albums of All Time

To me, for a band to sound truly "evil", there has to be that special something about it. It has to have a certain quality. I know many folks out there think that by having Satanic lyrics in their songs the musician is automatically "evil" sounding. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth. I've heard many bands throughout the years with Satanic lyrics, who made The Chipmunks sound voraciously blasphemous in comparison. A great wealth of black metal bands quickly comes to mind. No. Truly evil sounding death metal bands have to have a certain vibe about them. A Particularly "gloomy" aura. It's not just about "evil" lyrics. There has to be a mastery over nuance and subtlety. For example, there's something about a band that employs the use of string bends and trills that somehow gives me the impression that they're privy to some unspeakable horror that can only be found within the darkest landscape of the mind. Obviously the use of tremolo style picking is also of great importance. Personally, I've always considered the contrast of low end gloom and pinch harmonics to be an added bonus when applied. Here are the following five death metal albums that, for me, fall perfectly into that category.


5) Morbid Angel - Covenant (1993)

I know a lot of people cite 'Altars of Madness' as the "be all end all" Morbid Angel album, but for me the band truly reached the pinnacle of their abilities with 1993's Covenant. Though the band has always had a firm grasp on creating evil sounds, I felt that they really knocked it out of the park with this album. The sound was a bit more murky and cavernous what with their newfound low end and there was a larger emphasis on slower, gloomier sounding riffs. Make no mistake though, the whirlwind rhythmic onslaught that made them such a force to be reckoned with in the first place was still present in songs such as 'Rapture' and 'Blood on My Hands', yet it was the doomier tracks like 'God of Emptiness' and 'World of Shit' that had me entranced and obsessed.



4) Disciples of Mockery - Prelude to Apocalypse (1999)

Featuring 3/4's of Incantation's 'Onward to Golgotha' line-up, DOM's blasphemous debut features everything from grinding death metal to slow and decrepit doom to even a more "blackened" sounding tremolo assault. The vocals of Craig Pillard are a bit different here than anything he's done with Incantation or Disma, for that matter, yet they sound just as menacing and evil. It's too bad that DOM didn't remain active as they would have easily given Incantation a run for their money as evidenced on 'Prelude to Apocalypse'. Hell, I prefer this album to anything Incantation has released since Craig's departure, so there!




3) Coffin Texts - Gods of Creation, Death & Afterlife (2000)

This album really blew me away upon its release way back in 2000. From the band name to the album cover and song titles, I guess I was expecting some bootleg Nile rip-off. By the time the first song finished I knew that this was going to be one of my all time favorite albums.

Coffin Texts sound like a cross between early Incantation and early Bolt Thrower with a healthy dash of Immolation thrown into the mix. The vocals are a bit "witchier" sounding than the aforementioned bands, which brings to mind the German old guard of bands such as Kreator and Sodom.



2) Incantation - Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994)

Choosing between 'Onward to Golgotha' and this, is no easy decision to make by any stretch, but ultimately I have to give 'Mortal Throne' the edge as it takes everything from the first album and improves upon it. The band sounds that much more mature and enlightened this time around, yet without sacrificing any of the gloomy aesthetics found on their debut.







1) Immolation - Dawn of Possession (1991)

And here it is...

By far the most haunting and sinister sounding death metal album ever! There is something rhythmically serpentine about this album, from beginning to end. The mastery over feeling and atmosphere is rather uncanny when you consider that this was the band's first "professional" outing as well as the fact that they really haven't sounded this sinister since. Everything about this album is top shelf, from the absolutely brilliant production, courtesy of Harris Johns, to the masterful use of tremolo picking, harmonics, string bends and other assorted spells. This is the pinnacle achievement of the band, and although I wouldn't say that it's been downhill since, they certainly haven't been able to get any higher than this.

The Way's Top Ten Greatest Albums of All Time

1) Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium (1991)

What can I say? This is by far my favorite album of all time. More of a "funeral" doom album than anything and without a doubt the heaviest release by the band, 'Forest of Equilibrium' introduced to me my love of slides and string bends. The music on this album encompasses everything from colossal heaviness to autumnal beauty. I was lucky enough to have purchased this when it was released domestically here in the U.S. over twenty years ago at age 16 and it hasn't lost an ounce of its magic since. Unfortunately I cannot say the same  for the band themselves but nonetheless, 'Forest of Equilibrium' will be the album I take to my grave.

2) Celtic Frost - Morbid Tales/Emperor's Return (1984/85)

Back when I was but a wee lad, way before "doom" became a legitimate genre and way before that genre gave way to a various number of "sub"-genres including "stoner doom" and "funeral doom", this was about as slow and heavy as it got, not to mention that the vocals of Tom Warrior were pretty much the most brutal and barbaric thing I had heard yet. Almost 30 years later and this hasn't gotten old yet. Technically, this isn't an album, but a re-release of the band's first two ep's. Nevertheless, my first copy of this was on cassette with both ep's bearing the cover you see to the right.

3) Pestilence - Consuming Impulse (1989)

Not only does this boast one of the greatest vocal performances by a death metal band, but there's not a blast in sight. For my money, 'Consuming Impulse' has probably the greatest sounding down picking of any metal album, death metal or other, not to mention the absolutely stellar production by Harris Johns. To this day, no one has been able to make good on the promise of this album, not even the band themselves.

4) Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos - Slaves to Darkness (1989)

Without a doubt, the absolute HEAVIEST fucking album ever!! Had Basil Poledouris been unavailable to compose the score for the original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack, Bolt Thrower would have been the ideal replacement pick. Ungodly.

5) Immolation - Dawn of Possession (1991)

In all likelihood, this is the most hauntingly evil death metal album ever. Rich with gloomy atmosphere and never boring, 'Dawn of Possession' is a landmark in northeastern U.S. death metal.

6) Incantation - Onward to Golgotha (1992)

Along with 'Dawn of Possession', 'Onward to Golgatha' is a testament to that faction of northeastern U.S. death metal that chose not to inseminate each song with breakdown riffs. This album is about as oppressive as it gets. This is easily the soundtrack to a journey through some infernal Greek underworld complete with colossal doom riffs and cavernous atmospherics, this is about as evil as it gets. Legend.

7)  Sabbat - Dreamweaver: Reflections of our Yesterdays (1989)

Sick vocals, stellar lyrics and concept overall and just plain awesome death/thrash.

8)  Entombed - Left Hand Path (1990)

The album album that opened up the floodgates and ushered fourth the first wave of Swedish death metal. I can honestly say, without a doubt, that not one of them came close to capturing the cavernous brilliance of this album. The band would release one more solid death metal album before abandoning much of the gloomy atmospherics in favor of a more classic rock oriented approach. Fine by me, but 'Left hand Path' remains the one absolutely essential album within their entire catalog.

9) Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness (1989)

Another band that's been to aped to death yet no one has managed to come close to the eerie brilliance of this album. Smoking a joint, opening up the lyric sheet and reading along with each song is sure to blow your mind. While there was indeed a handful of early death and grind bands that were obsessed with gore and horror films, Carcass to it to the extreme by throwing in tons of wordplay and black humor not to mention impossibly technical medical terminology to boot. The pioneering dual vocals of Jeff Walker and Bill Steer are still the best of that style and the Steer's morbid riffing is among the creepiest you'll ever hear in death metal.

10) Therion - Of Darkness (1991)

Despite some of the thrashier sections on this album, 1991's 'Of Darkness' is one of the most "evil" sounding records to crawl fourth from out of the northern wastes of Scandinavia. Cristofer Johnsson's vocals on this record are my absolute favorite by any death metal vocalist before or since and the undeniable Celtic Frost vibe that coats the album is the cherry on top. Therion would release one more album in this vein and then it was all symphony-city from there on out. Not bad in it's own right but my preference lies with the band's older material. Cavernous gloom never sounded so good!



Honorable mentions:

Carnage - Dark Recollections
Accidental Suicide - Deceased
Obituary - Cause of Death
Darkthrone - Soulside Journey

Incantation - Diabolical Conquest (1998)

Musically, this is right on par with the band's material leading up until this point. There is a lot of diversity in regards to tempo shifts and picking technique, be it of the galloping variety, "blackened" tremolo style or just plain all out doomy dirge-fests. This album never gets boring in that sense. There is a healthy quantity of everything here to dig in and enjoy. My main (and in all likelihood, only) problem with this album is the vocals of Daniel Corchado. I understand well enough that there are plenty of folks out there who prefer the faggy rasp of black metal style vocals and so upon hearing this album were tickled pink that Incantation chose to go this route. I also noticed that there are a lot of vocal nods to the gay pirate of Autopsy himself, Chris Reifert, on this album. Being that I never enjoyed that dude's vocal style, I was perplexed and rather mortified upon hearing the sounds being gushed fourth from out of Danny C's cephalic cunt hole. I kept wondering to myself "what the fuck were they thinking??!!"

It's really a fucking shame as I could only imagine how awesome this album would've been had Pillard or some similar sounding entity handled the mic. Instead, some beaner with a wretched fag rasp proceeded to shit all over an otherwise decent sounding album. Great job Incant.

Incantation - The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish (1997)

This is pretty much the last Incantation release that I truly give a fuck about. Sure, 'Diabolical Conquest' had some decent tunes (though why the band chose to replace the low end ungodliness of Pillard with Danny Corchado's throat-fucked rasp is way the fuck beyond me) and I'll even go as far to say that 'Blasphemy' is something of an underrated classic, but this was the last time I felt that Incantation was flat out perfecto-fucking-mundo. Some of the band's most evil sounding shit to date is right here, buckaroo. Forget all the shit that ol' Johnny Mac & Cheese himself has been vocalizing over, this is the band's pinnacle achievement right here. Sure, it's only an 'ep', but I'll put this release up against anything the band has shat fourth since!

Surprisingly enough, TFMOAA showcases what is easily Craig Pillard's weakest vocal performance to date. Don't get me wrong, they're not outright faggy sounding by any stretch and I'll take Craig on a bad day over most others, but they do sound ever so slightly tired and uninspired.

TFMOAA marked the first recording to feature now longtime Incant skin master, Kyle Severn, and almost solely for his performance on this ep alone do I rank him as one of my top 5 all time favorite drummers.

John McEntee's riffary here is among his best and the production of Bill Korecky is spot fucking on, bringing out the band's true essence and flawless knack for conjuring fourth negative vibes.

The only real complaint I have here is the inclusion of the ultra-lame cover of Death's 'Scream Bloody Gore'. As much as I prefer Pillard's cavernous style over Chucks's, it's just downright fucking miserable to endure his rendition of this death metal classic. The end result, while not horrible in any significant way, just sounds rather gratuitous and beat and I would have much rather have had the band opt to include another original.

Again, while I do like Diabolical Conquest and Blasphemy, for me, this is the last of the truly essential Incantation releases.

Incantation - Vanquish in Vengeance (2012)

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat... Incantation, by and large, have been dead to me pretty much since good ol' Johnny Mac & Cheese decided to handle mic duties. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with being unable to competently handle two things at once, but I noticed that once JM decided to become Incant's "official" MC, the goings-on within the riff department became decidedly generic, not to mention that, despite the universal praise ol' chappy has received for a job well done, to mine ears (and apparently mine alone) Johnny boy's vocals sound laughably inept and rather painful to endure, and whereas the "low-ended" growls sound like some pussy chumpskate attempting to mimic his betters, the occasional high-end rasps that ol' Mac & Cheese emits from time to time are truly and absolutely embarrassing to behold. Normally I would laugh my ass off at such an atrociously lame attempt at death metal vocals, but because Incantation was at one point a band that I held in the highest regard, all I can do is cringe in horror.

With that aside, let us proceed onward...

Musically, this isn't bad. There are are some genuinely "evil" riffs scattered throughout and it's good to see that John & co. still comprehend the art of tempo changes and structure overall. There is a wealth of slow material on here ranging from mid-paced battery to all out doom, all the while dishing out plenty of skank and blast beats for those in the audience who suffer from ADD. The production is "ok". I would much rather have heard the band revisit the cavernous rumblings of their glory days, but apparently as gray hair and receding hair lines come to claim their own, they also take with them the weight of one's sound. Fuck it. Since Incant's pretty much employed this limp-wristed technique for over a decade now, I know better than to hold my breath. Long gone is the gargantuan and monolithic sound of albums such as 'Onward to Golgotha' and 'Mortal Throne of Nazarene'.

Of course, for all the "decent" shit that pops up on this album, there are still plenty of riffs that sound like they were written by a two year old with Down's Syndrome. The kind of remedial shit that someone comes up with during their first week of playing guitar. Allen West would be proud. Believe me, I understand that not everything has to fly by at mach 10, in fact, I have hardly a semblance of tolerance for mindless technicality, but come the fuck on, try and at least be interesting.

Already the masses are gathering to masturbate Johnny and the boys for yet another "bullseye" performance, and I'm sure anyone who happens to stumble upon this review will end up with their hiney in an uproar as a result. Oh fucking well. As I mentioned earlier, Incant's pretty much been a dead issue since after the release of their wildly underrated 'Blasphemy' LP. This certainly isn't the weakest or the worst of their releases, but it is a far cry from the shit that they were spewing out during the glory years. Oh well, I'm sure all of the trendy "OSDM Facebook hipsters" will be jumping for joy when this is released next week (given that they haven't already downloaded the shit out of it by then).

Incantation - Decimate Christendom

This might not have been so bad if it weren't for the horrendously gay vocals of John Mac-N-Cheese. The vocals on this album sound like those of a kidnapped hitch hiker who's been handcuffed and brutally sodomized for hours on end over at some overweight, mustachioed serial killers pad. With each tooth that has been unceremoniously bashed the fuck in, with every moment fatty's cock has been ruthlessly shoved down this guy's throat, the undesired effect takes "aural" form and before you know it... voila... the vocals are done, dude. I guess after having endured so many line-up changes due to his being a midget chump, good ol' Mac-N-Cheese decided that he would commandeer the reigns and be "the voice" of Incantation. Bad move. Hearing Mac-N-Cheese front Incantation is like being confronted by a homosexual three year old with Down's Syndrome.

The low ended heaviness of Incant's earlier albums, ep's, etc, has been stripped down and abandoned in favor of some pitifully limp wristed and tinny shrill. I've noticed that with a lot of these guys, once they hit their 40's, they start to wonder what cock tastes and feels like stuffed inside their rectums. Some, like Immolation, decide that it's not for them and come back "swingin' with albums such as Majesty and Decay, while others decide to give it another go, the implications of which can only mean one thing.

Incantation - Blasphemy

Not too sure how The Infernal Storm gets major props while people snivel and complain that this is the weakest album in Incantation's career. At what point did I get abducted and brought to this alien planet full of homosexual androids? How is The Infernal Storm even remotely superior to this album? Please, seriously, someone fucking explain this shit to me, now!

After the epic and colossal career high that was 1998's Diabolical Conquest, it appeared that Incantation ran out of steam. Big time. Though the vocals on The Infernal Storm were more to my liking (I was not a big fan of Daniel Corchado's whiny bitch sounding rasp. Why he abandoned the superior low end that he employed during his tenure in Cenotaph is a question that may hopefully be answered at the end of the year when the Mayan calender reaches its exhaustion point), I felt that, even though the vocal delivery of Mike Saez lacked the abysmal depth and all encompassing range that Craig Pillard possessed, he was definitely on the right track and fit in better with Incantation's cavernous and mythological sounding death/doom revelry.

Unfortunately, the songs were just not there. I've listened to TIS countless times and to no avail. Aside from a mere and pitiful amount of two or three riffs, at best, TIS was a tired and uninspired affair that left me wondering if Incantation had indeed lost the magic. Hey, it happens. The production was also very weak and even cleaner than usual, which just sounded fucking wrong on an Incantation album.

I guess while drummer Kyle Severn was off somewhere nodding off in some heroin induced "Candy Land" for the mind, John Mac & Cheese and co. (aka "members of the month) decided to try their hand at trend hopping by hiring on, then "go to" drummer guy, Dave Culross to come in and save the day. Personally, I've NEVER understood the hype that surrounds that guy like a radioactive drug supply at a dope dealers pad over in Pripyat. Sure, he's tight, but that's about it. There is absolutely NOTHING special or out of the ordinary about his performance. Period.

After the failure of TIS (a first for Incant, in my book), I was more than a little concerned as to whether or not they'd be able to uproot themselves from out of the creative mire they had now found themselves stuck within. My worries only deepened when I found out that the title of the new album was the bland and rather off course pick of 'Blasphemy'. After so many epic displays of wordplay such as 'Mortal Throne of Nazarene', 'The Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish' and 'Upon the Throne of Apocalypse', I was beginning to wonder if the band was finally starting to lose interest in its investments and if this would indeed reflect upon the contents of their new album. Upon exposure to the first track my worries began to fade away. THIS was more like it!

Along with a muddier, dirtier sound, the weird and bizarre harmonic laden riff onslaught of old was back in full force. Indeed the band had found the well of inspiration and drank from it deeply. This is the album that should have succeeded Diabolical Conquest. By fucking far. Here, the vocals of Mike Saez blend in perfectly and make the absence of Craig Pillard all the more easier to grow accustomed to. Saez may not possess the mile long growls that Craig so effortlessly unleashes, but his performance on this album is more than competent and again, only adds to Incantation's strangely rotting and mythological sound which conjures images of the Greek underworld among other various ancient scenarios and locations.

Also returning to the fold was the Pete to John's Trey, Kyle Severn. Apparently he decided that despite the overwhelmingly addictive sojourns to Candy Land, he could not let the legacy of Incantation go down in flames as it had begun to do as a result of the bands previous outing. The drumming here is nothing short of perfection. This isn't the overwrought showboating that most death metal bands require. This is a return to the style of old where feeling trumps technicality.

There is a very similar feeling to Diabolical Conquest on here. There are more than a few instances where McEntee's penchant for weirdo harmonics are used to full effect such as DC's 'Disciples of Blasphemous Reprisal', or depressing and colossal slabs of doomy instrumentation ala 'Unheavenly Skies'. This is the Incantation that I became infatuated with way back when I first heard 1991's 'Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies'. Again, I will never understand for the life of me, why this album catches the amount of flack that it does while stale turdfests such as The Infernal Storm and the two albums after 'Blasphemy' get their knobs ritually polished by all of the geeks over at Metal-Archives on the constant. Trust me. If you dig Incantation's older material, than grab this up by any means necessary! This is without a doubt, Incant's last album to truly represent that ancient and rotting sound first crafted by the band so long ago.