Review by Daniel for Oni (AUS) - Incantation Superstition (2023)

You know what? You can’t get too cocky in this vast & varied landscape that we know as the global metal scene because just when you start to think you know everything there is to know you’re likely to get hit in the back of the head with something you weren’t even aware existed but was right under your nose the whole time & that’s certainly the case with Adelaide-based death metal outfit Oni. I like to think that I have a pretty decent knowledge of the Aussie extreme metal scene (both current & historical) but when I met up with the label head of Sphere of Apparition Records recently he mentioned that the their first major release would be coming from a cool early 2000’s death metal band whose angle saw them tackling themes taken from Japanese demonology. I’d never even heard of Oni before but I trust his judgement so I made a point of checking them out once the CD was released earlier this year.

The ”Incantation Superstition” compilation draws together the entire recorded output of Oni which amounts to two 2001 releases (i.e. the “Enshrined To The Dead” demo & a split CD with delightfully monikered fellow Adelaide outfit Jesus Anal Penetration) as well as a cover version (“Altar of Sacrifice”) taken from the “Hell At Last – A Tribute To Slayer” compilation. Impetuous Ritual vocalist/guitarist & Portal/Grave Upheaval drummer Ignis Fatuus has done an excellent job at remastering & preparing this material as the tracklisting flows pretty seamlessly between the tracks from the various sessions & you won’t experience any jarring changes in sound along the way. The production job is more than reasonable for such old demo recordings too with all of the instruments & vocals being not only clearly audible but also maintaining a suitable amount of raw extremity so all of the ingredients are here for a rewarding trip into the annals of Australian metal history.

The 32 minute runtime kicks off with the five tracks taken from the split CD which I’m assuming is the more recent of the two releases due to its slightly more technical song structures but there’s not really that much of a stylistic difference between the two to tell you the truth which certainly helps with the flow of the tracklisting. The release opens with a short but splendidly executed intro piece that immediately presents the listener with Oni’s Japanese themes before the band blasts off into four hectic & quite brutal death metal outings. This is followed by the three track “Enshrined To The Dead” demo which I slightly favour over the split, especially the last two tracks “Seppuku Blade” (my personal favourite) & “Incantation Superstition” which are particularly strong. The older material might not be quite as psychotic as the material from the split but I feel that it works better from a compositional sense so it offers a touch more appeal for the naïve teenage tape trader that’s still such a big part of me all these decades later. The Slayer cover version represents more of a bolt-on as its style is quite different to the rest of the tracklisting. As someone whose favourite metal album of all time has been ”Reign In Blood” for about 35 years now, Oni was always going to have their work cut out for them in covering a track like “Altar of Sacrifice” which was metal perfection to begin with. They do a pretty reasonable job at replicating the song it has to be said but if you’re going to cover such a well-known & undeniably classic track then you really need to do something a little different with it if it’s to have the desired impact. As it is, “Altar of Sacrifice” comes across as a touch disposable given that it's essentially a down-tuned version of the original & features deep death metal vocals that don’t gel nearly as well as Tom Araya’s did. It’s not a weak song as such but it’s probably the least interesting inclusion on a very consistent tracklisting at the same time.

All of the hints I’d seen online had me expecting to hear something in line with the brutal death metal model when going into “Incantation Superstition” but the reality is a little different to that. Sure, there’s a fair bit of brutality to Oni’s sound but that’s not the only feather in their caps as there’s a lot more going here than that. I feel that the technical death metal subgenre is a much better fit for Oni as their riff & song structures are a touch more complex & a lot more chaotic which brings to mind the more tech death-oriented records from bands like Cryptopsy & Nile. It’s all presented with an inherently underground aesthetic that sees them maintaining enough looseness in their performances to avoid the sterility of the super-precise modern tech death world though. Oni’s riffs are angular & quite jerky at times which never allows the listener to relax. They kinda sound like a runaway train a lot of the time, as if they’re on the brink of crashing but have the technical chops to hold it all together while giving their audience a sly, knowing grin. Despite the technicality though, Oni always keep a foot in the classic death metal camp with “Altars of Madness”-era Morbid Angel appearing to be the main catalyst. The riff structures, blast-beats & super-shredding Trey Azagthoth-style guitar solos all owe a debt to the greatest Florida death metal band of them all although the super-underground atmosphere also tends to have me reaching for comparisons with fellow Morbid Angel disciples Sadistic Intent too.

There are number of Japanese intros & outros used throughout the release & they’re unanimously effective in achieving their desired outcome, so much so that I have to express a little disappointment that I couldn’t hear a little more of the Japanese influence in the actual death metal. I’m sure the lyrics are sporting it in spades but I can’t hear a lot of it in the instrumentation. The band go with several different vocal styles with a deep death growl & a higher, snarlier delivery being the protagonists. I prefer the higher-pitched one for the most part as it sounds less generic & a touch more aggressive. The bass lines benefit from their strong positioning in the mix & make the most of the opportunity by contributing more to the overall package than most death metal bassists are afforded the pleasure of.

Overall, “Incantation Superstition” works very well in paying homage to one of the Australian death metal scene’s less familiar yet still quite talented artists. The continuity of the production job also gives it the opportunity to work as an album in its own right too if you give it the chance. There isn’t a weak moment on the tracklisting & the relatively short run time means that the listener’s patience isn’t challenged which gives the release the potential to reach a whole new audience. In saying that though, I’d probably suggest that Oni’s best work may well have been ahead of them as I’m not quite sure they’d completely galvanized their sound as yet. They’d hit on something fresh & interesting from a stylistic & thematic point of view but I think they needed a little more time (perhaps just in the studio) to pull it all together in a way that’s more unified & fluent so as to truly rip the listener's face off (at least as a full-length release as I do think that "Enshrined to the Dead" is a very solid effort in isolation). As it is though, “Incantation Superstition” has left me surprised that I hadn’t heard of Oni before as local bands of this quality are few & far between, particularly those that possess such a clear pedigree with the extreme metal scene that I love so much.