Incantation

Onward to Golgotha (1992)

Incantation possess the ability to create soundscapes that are dripping in filth, violence and laden with feelings of fear and isolation (like Autospy had done earlier, but with less of the horror/gore aspect).  Here the overwhelming earthy/muddy sound - like something ancient has been exhumed - takes on a more primal nature. Onward to Golgotha is an excellent example of the atmospheric possibilities inherent in Death Metal and arguably resembles Black Metal in its approach. As music it is devoid of emotion, representing humanity stripped of its ideals, myths, beliefs, cultures. The captivation of the abyss and the wild void within.

The guitar sound is massive.  It's there right in your face and dominates everything else in the mix. Drums are located slightly to the back of mix and are used to create a pulsing ambient battery and/or dictate intensity. The vocals are low, rumbling, almost monotonous growls used as another instrument or layer to assist in creating texture. They have an almost whisper-like quality at times as if they become more buried - like a ghoul speaking from six-feet under.

Slow, doom-like passages are used seamlessly to off-set the faster tremolo and surging power chord sections. Played by heavily detuned guitars the chord/note selection is dominated by low, bass notes and is basically all atonal / chromatic. The bass is used to add extra thickness to the wall of mud.  Composition-wise this is a master-class in the writing of riffs with extremely long-phrasing, which in turn evolve over multiple sections or into new riffs. Melodic ideas interweave, circulate around each other, and when all put together we are left with some of the longest phrasing in all of Death Metal, continuing on and leaving the listener in a state of suspense, until skilfully resolution of all previous ideas hits, in a moment that feels almost grandiose - like a monolithic ancient structure has been uncovered and is finally able to be viewed in all if grandeur for the first time in thousands of years.

The flow of these twisting, complex strands of music is incredibly organic, falling into none of the traps often befalling Death Metal bands who introduce convoluted song-structures. Perhaps the key to this lies in the fact that Incantation whilst writing complex music do so without the need to introduce technical musicianship. It is indeed a rare skill in being able to develop harmonic ideas across entire songs in a complicated manner,  but with low technicality - the complexity coming from high composition intricacy instead.