December 2020 Feature Release - The Horde Edition
It's now December which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We're really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don't be shy.
This month's feature release for The Horde is 1998's classic fifth album from legendary New Jersey death metal exponents Incantation. This release falls right into my musical sweet spot but it's been many years since I've revisited it & I apparently haven't rated it before so it's time to see where it sits against the death metal elite.
https://metal.academy/releases/1235
Now we are talking, one of the best Incantation releases in their discography. Corchado's input is certainly influential here but McEntee and co also put in a sterling effort. Less murky but by no means any less powerful. Probably the last great Incantation record. 4.5/5
I've just posted a review and I've got to say, I have been absolutely blown away by just how awesome this album is. I have lots of reservations about certain aspects of death metal, but when it gets it right, as it most definitely does here, then it can be truly mind-blowing. I'm already touting this as one of my five star albums after only handful of listens. Another winner from me from the Featured Releases, after the Shining and Neptunian Maximalism albums from last month I'm beginning to feel a bit spoiled!
I have listened to my fair share of death doom metal from The Ruins of Beverast, Officium Triste and Swallow The Sun that I feel like I can speak to this album a little bit. I like its melodic focus, but outside of low guttural howls, it does not fully represent the death metal sound. Incantation were looking to form a sound that combined death and doom metal together into something truly spectacular and genre defying. But what we ended up getting was a good album that I wish I like a lot more than I do.
For starters, Incantation have a huge distinction of actually using destructive blast beats and tremolo picking reserved for the bottom two strings of the guitar, in addition to doom style riffage and utterly slow tempos. On the surface, I would have hoped that Diabolical Conquest would have made these two ideas work in harmony with a fluent blending of styles. Instead, what we ended up getting was an album that is one part death metal, one part doom, and the rest is sudden transitions between the two with very little interweaving or connectivity.
And as someone who isn't a big fan of the traditional form of death metal, I can admit to liking some of these passages here. The best moments come on "Disciples of Blasphemous Reprisal" and "Ethereal Misery", while "Shadows of the Ancient Empire" have some solid ideas as well. The doom passages are strong; lacking much of the ethereal strings/synths that much of my listening in this repertoire, but still cool framing devices. But it's the rapid swapping of tempos between ideas and phrases that are more in line with the technical side of death metal that I have never been a fan of.
Maybe I'm spoiled because of a lot of exposure to atmospheric black metal like Saor that makes transitions between slow, ethereal passages and relentless black metal with elegance and grace that make me a little more lukewarm on Diabolical Conquest than I would have liked. Nevertheless, the music within is very good and the band show a profound level of proficiency in their performance. The two ideas on their own are very good, but they are being tied together very loosely and I do have to mark it down because of it.
7/10
Yep. That certainly hit the spot. This release was always gonna be right up my alley & it hasn't failed to deliver either. Here's my review:
https://metal.academy/reviews/19495/1235
4.5/5
Just read your review Daniel and it absolutely nails it as to what makes this album so f***ing awesome and expresses it far more eloquently than I ever could. Your quote "The intentionally sludgy & mossy production, the gorgeously muddy guitar tone, the monstrous bass tone, the loose-ish performances that ooze of underground credibility, the ultra-deep & repetitive vocals" sum up exactly what I love most when I do listen to death metal. Unlike yourself, I am not a dyed-in-the -wool death metal fan, being more attracted to doom and black metal for my extreme metal fixes, but this is exactly the sort of record that appeals to what I do love about the genre and it's looser, filthier side.