Incantation
Entrantment of Evil
(Hells Headbangers)
Hells Headbangers has scrapped and fought to bring the world the harshest metal out there. The metal gods have aligned them with Incantation, Pennsylvania’s death metal work horse that continues producing stellar albums twenty-five years into their legacy. Hells Headbangers unearths Incantation Entrantment of Evil on twelve inch vinyl. Maybe you caught up with Incantation on their 2014 outrageous brush with perfection, Dirges of Elysium. Maybe you have been listening since they have polluted young brains on the impenetrable, Onward to Golgotha. (Relapse Records released this in 1992 and also re-issued a killer LP last year as well). Either way, this revamped mini LP is a treasured gem two and a half decades later.
The twelve inch treatment allows for further depth in Incantation’s sound, more sinister than other seven inch platters of the past (Seraphic Decay, 1990; Relapse, 1991). If the music is not enough to summon your wallet in 2015, may I point to the extraordinary job which Hells Headbangers has done with packaging. The record has two sheets of art, pics, illustrations, and lyrics. There is also a four panel pull out poster. But the prize is the one sided wax itself, with the B side etched with a goat’s head and band’s logo.
Incantation coalesced influences that formed monstrous death metal. Some of it rudimentary, some prophetic; but all of the tracks here build a foundation for future Incantation. Entrantment of Evil is dark and cavernous; the low tuned heaviness and speed combine to punch you in the throat. And then slit it. The opening solitary riffs are ominous but quickly yield to a hammering barrage of all instruments and vocals. The bridge brings it back a touch to a low tuned swinging stomp. The opening breaths of “Devoured Death” are a sludgy bog, until the drums’ tempo whirl, frenzied. The song returns to a twisted mid-tempo churning riff.
These elements repeat as any solid death metal should. Thinking that this is 1990, sure brings some perspective, though. Not as polished or as smooth as, Death’ Spiritual Healing (1990) or Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness (1989), the production feels lo-fi, taking more from black metal aesthetics. Realisticall, the financial factor determined the sound, but Incantation has never looked for a large sound, aiming more toward Bathory or Convulse. Incantation took a little thrash, some more black metal and just purged it through a malicious filter of hate and scorn. This music does not just sound as if it is talking about evil, it feels as if it used for evil. (Hutch)
Purchase Entrantment of Evil here.
