This 3 track EP literally screams `Old School Death Metal’, from the spiky logo, in a gothic looking font, and the grisly, black and white cover art to the little inverted cross underneath the track list! Musically it does not disappoint either; the three tracks present on this debut EP are dark, crushingly heavy, and dripping with grim, nasty atmosphere.
It is however, a little geographically confusing. Incarceration originally hail from North Western Brazil, yet there are no hints of any old Brazilian influences here; no raging, staccato Sepultura-style death/thrash, or frantic Sarcofago inspired malevolence that I can detect. From what I gather, Daniel the main man behind Incarceration, moved to Hamburg, Germany and found some other musicians to complete his lineup. To my ears however, this band sounds almost entirely Swedish!
For a start, they have that guitar sound – it always reminded me of cold, damp, dark underground caves for some reason. It’s a truly recognisable sound which harks back to the early nineties, and makes the hairs stand up on the backs of my arms. The second thing that reminds me so much of those Stockholm bands, is Daniel’s vocals; a mix of roaring and inhuman gurgling, drenched in morbid reverb. The song writing also, crucially, totally hits the spot; each song leaps out of the speakers and grabs you by the throat. The songs seem straight ahead and relentless, yet there is a great flow and sense of dynamics here, like the old masters used. Two bands in particular come to mind; Grave for the sheer leaden, all-smashing heaviness of the some of the riffs, combined with Dismember’s darkly raging, yet atmospheric song writing.
My only real complaint of this EP is that all three songs are pretty much exactly the same pace, and so if you’re not concentrating you could easily mistake one song for another, but for a headbanger with a love for the old way of cranking out dark, grisly death metal, there is a lot here to appreciate.
(7.5/10 Jon Butlin)
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