Secreting from the US this colossally oppressive extreme metal act suffocates the planet with their third auditory excretion that equates to asphyxiation submerged within a vat of corrosive bitumen the moment the album starts with “Nether”. Whilst my superlative ridden opening garland hints at a sloth tendency the track is laced with fiery riffing pinned back by high velocity sporadic intense blasting with the vocals manifesting as guttural roars, strangulated screams and terrifying shrieks. Categorising this album into any one particular genre would fall foul of underselling its cornucopia appeal to all styles in extreme metal as it touches the befouled foundations of black, crust, doom and death metal equally.

After the very short distorted tones of “Cinereous”, “Ashen Reign” descends onto the listener with an ominous dense bass laden deluge that drifts blindly before the drums force their way into the quagmire of the dense low end of the tune. The vocals are animalistic, growling beastly drawls creating a nightmarish aura tempered only by the slightly higher tone that the guitar work provides. There is a transfixing potency to this album that holds you in place as the song detonates with a blasting phase that is utterly demented yet highly controlled as the song moves through each grotesquely manicured section with effortless yet intoxicating ease.

A beautifully haunting piece starts “Wings Of Annihilation”, the distorted guitar work has that sense of creeping on you, tendrils of dread searching you out as the drums fill the space before the riff crashes in with the bass. The blackened aspects of this album are embedded into the atmosphere of the songs not especially within the riffing though at times you’ll hear a post black metal poise when the songs speed up and it is this variation in histrionics that makes this album so completely engaging and immersive. It cuts you off from the world, severing your existence from reality by devouring your soul with tracks that are wholly and reservedly inhuman and should be enough for you to check this album out immediately.

(9/10 Martin Harris)

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https://abstracter.bandcamp.com/album/cinereous-incarnate