Blasphemy

Generally not quite as inspired as 90's Incantation, this one still holds up nicely in the band's discography. With song-writing not as focused as previously but still very much in the band's tradition, the overall sound still emphasizes that impenetrable, dark approach and feels closer to trad Incantation when compared to the following 'Decimate Christendom' and its production type; more open and bright.

The track quality is decent on the whole, but this release seems to be a case of most of the action happening on the first half of the album. The stuff afterwards is still as vicious and generally hellish, but it probably doesn't offer the one-up from the first half necessary to keep the listener firmly connected; especially when considering one of the slowest songs, 'Uprising Heresy', comes at Track 10 when it's likely too late for a near 9min doomy monster to be metabolized.

So it seems up to the first half to do the job, which it does. The title-track and opener 'Blasphemy' serves up prime Incantation. This is scornful, dejected acrimony of exactly the vile kind the band had accustomed the audience. Violent tremolo picking creeping about. 'Crown of Decayed Salvation' brings much of the same frenzied anguish and adds ominous harmony work, eminently somber and darkly illuminating.

There's less grip and tightness here as on previous works. Some tracks seem to enjoy instilling a form of ritualistic repetition into the whole: the album bridge Track 7 (and its interminable title) or the novelty that is the sorrowful 'A Once Holy Throne' with its repeated melodic refrain, and finally the Easter-egg outro track all serve that same purpose of deliberate minimalism. Interestingly, the band use some of that Possessed style mid-range, quick action hammer-on/pull-off riffage (eg 'His Weak Hand') as well as some segments of melodic yet eerie tremolo picking also reminiscent of the mid 80's pioneers ('Rotting with Your Christ').

At this point in their progression, this being their sixth full-length and a full decade releasing studio albums, one might've expected the band to find a few more angles, albeit very much in the same trajectory as always and loyally consistent with their sound, to offer a bit more past the point of solid Incantation material. This was likely not going to be as imposingly cavernous as a 'Mortal Throne of Nazarene' or going to beat 'Diabolical Conquest', so it would've served the record to find a slightly renewed and more convincing angle.

Incantation have never failed their mission in delivering unadulterated, heavy Death Metal, oozing with doom ridden evilness. Despite any lineup changes, the band is always seemingly able to push themselves as far as they can with each release. I truly believe that people do not pay enough attention to how much this band changes and innovates new song structures and sounds with each album. Their mid to new era releases are just as amazing as their old ones, any biases aside. Blasphemy is no exception, and even exceeds this in many ways. Lets dig into why this is.

Blasphemy is a very stand out album for Incantation. It really does not sound similar to anything else they have made. It is really hard for me to believe, that so many other reviews have just labeled this as Incantation running through the motions. John McEntee was focused and new exactly what he wanted on this record, and executed it pretty much exactly how I’d imagine he wanted to. His riffing is extremely memorable here and very good. You can clearly hear everything he is doing on the guitar even with the inherent muddy production, which I will revisit later. Kyle Severn returns to the band with his amazing drumming techniques displayed on the ultimate classic album “Diabolical Conquest” and clearly never lost his touch! Mike Saez joined the band as a session vocalist during this time, and wow did he do a fantastic job. He has great pronunciation and you can really hear and follow along with every lyric he is conjuring and bellowing up. His tonality is perfect for the band too. Joe Lombard (R.I.P.) did a utterly stunning job with his bass playing on this album, and speaking of this, the bass gets great acknowledgment on this album and plenty of time to shine, which is really amazing and what helps this album seem even more sinister. This lineup worked swell, and they together, as a team made a very cohesive album, that sounds totally like Incantation, yet distinctly unique. The musicianship and lyrics are really well performed, written, and they follow a very direct and reoccurring theme, you guessed it… Blasphemy!

The production of Blasphemy seems to get many complaints, and I am fully aware that John himself, was not exactly pleased with the final result in the sound of this album. However, from my personal sonic view of this record, the production only adds to the atmosphere this album was trying to go for. I think it is good being as muddy as it is. It sounds so… hellish but in a weird and obscure cold way. Which might not sound like it makes a lot of sense, but if you know, you know. The album is almost written in a conceptual type of way, the songs flow into each other rather fittingly, and there is a lot of dynamic moments, and memorability to be had from here. The lyrics follow that guide too. It’s just a well pieced together album in general, and seems very focused. This all just contributes to the end result of Blasphemy being one of Incantations most stand out releases that gets very clearly brushed off and shoved aside. If you go into this album wanting to like it, I almost guarantee that you will if you like earlier Incantation, or later Incantation material for that matter. This is what you would want and more. Classic Incantation with just the right amount of added elements to make it really pop out at you.

So, this leads us to the songs themselves. How are they? Well, they hit all the peaks and valleys you could possibly imagine trudging through in the demonic landscapes of hell. The first track, aptly titled “Blasphemy,” opens up blazing fast and sets a great starting point and tone for the album as a whole. “The Fallen,” has one of the most sick bass intro pieces I may have ever heard, it is simple yet oh so effective! The main riff of this song is just amazing. It rolls and then eventually goes into a eerie pinch harmonic spree. “Once Holy Throne” is quite possibly the best, and most effective track for what I feel this album was really going for. This entire song is pretty much the same, slow, doom riff played over again and again with layer after layer of leads being added over time for an amazing build up. It is a beautiful yet evil homage to all that is Blasphemy. “Crown of Decayed Salvation” has one of Incantation’s best riffs ever created in my opinion. It is purely genius and unbelievably effective. “Rotting With Your Christ” has possibly the most angry, evil, and most abrasive riffs, drums, and lyrical content on the whole album. We then come to the track titled “His Weak Hand,” which is an amazing song. It flows perfectly and hearing those rolling riffs as a guitarist… man what a amazing piece and inspiration. We then arrive at “The Sacrilegious…” instrumental, which by all means is a great piece, and placed in a great spot on the album. This track leads directly into “Deceiver…” which is an absolute perfect way to jump off the instrumental into a total intense spiral of a song. “Seraphic Irreverense” is a very dissonant and wild card of a track. “Uprising Heresy” is by far the longest song on the album and builds a very well rounded doom death metal atmosphere, this one feels extremely ritualistic and occult. “Misanthropic Indulgence” ends the album on a grand and epic note of the full scale this album has come to reach. Outro 1 is a pointless 22 minute track which Hells Headbangers awesomely cut out of their beautiful new reissues. It was made to piss of Relapse of course though, so I can still even respect that. Outro 2 however is NOT pointless and ends the album on a creepier and more unsettling note.

Overall, this is a really fantastic album put out by the one and only Incantation. I think more listeners should give this album a chance and realize just how much of a stand out it is. Is it perfect? No, but it is amazing enough to be understandable if this were someone else's favorite record the band ever made. I think they executed this album incredibly well. This is a very overlooked and under appreciated piece of music that has not gotten the same love as other Incantation classics. Hopefully this review could help shed some light on it, and maybe get you to check it out and fall in love with it like I did years ago! Thanks for reading!

While "The Infernal Storm" could be considered as one of the most problematic from all Incantation's cds, its successor, "Blasphemy", was one of the most...unlucky! Okay, Kyle Severn returned to the band, the material itself was created relatively quickly (only a year after "The Infernal..."), unfortunately, there were other problems along the way, i.e. those with the line-up (incl. Mike Saez remained only a session vocalist) and - perhaps the worst - conflict between the publisher and the band (more precisely with Relapse Records). I do not want to fall into some boredom here, but in many bands similar topics could come into weakening of the music or general lack of ideas...Well, in 2002, Incantation also had a similar problem.

At least that is my impression. The Americans did not get the proper promotion then even when they made a deal with Candlelight - which was probably also due to the ultra-high level of their albums until 1998. On the other hand, no wonder, the sound of "Blasphemy" does not kick (it even reveals demo-like symptoms), it's a bit uneven in terms of composition, and at the end the band decided to push to the cd two, quasi-calming (?) outros with a duration of over 26 minutes! These ambients were supposed to be something like a malice towards the previous publisher, but in my opinion, such a solution seems to be...a simple excuse to overpush ("fucks" in the booklet would be enough)! Fortunately, as it's with great bands, the above-mentioned weaknesses do not take the class out of this release. Despite it, "Blasphemy" is another very good album, perfectly kept in the atmosphere of a bitter death/doom.

The "Blasphemy" is therefore dominated by the underground death metal, characteristic of John McEntee's band, where blasting is intertwined with doom waltzes (with a predominance of the latter), and the most important thing for the band is evil and rottenness - that is, faithfully developing previous patents. Examples include "Deceiver (Self-Righteous Betrayer)", "Crown Of Decayed Salvation", "Rotting With Your Christ", the title track or "His Weak Hand", where simpler riffs and medium-fast galloping and - probably the strongest - Saez's vocal is more expressive than last time. Even in the final part of the "proper" album (to be more precise, "Seraphic Irreverence" and "Uprising Heresy"), which seems to develop a bit too slowly, you may like its atmosphere and a lot of morbid melodies (also the characteristic Incantation point).

So you can see that in the case of Incantation weaker albums are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, if "Blasphemy" got on a slightly better sound and - most of all! - deprived of unnecessary interludes it would make an excellent album, perhaps surpassing "The Infernal Storm".

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2021/09/incantation-blasphemy-2002.html

Deep in the bowels of hell, Incantation recorded a rather peculiar record which makes this approach sound like another era of the band ending. Blasphemy brings back some retro Incantation, focusing on the death/doom elements in the likes of the first two records. However, it’s not the “closing of a chapter” you’d expect. It’s one of the worst. At least they would put an end to their undetermined choice for official musicians, as Mike Saez steps from being an official musician, though remains a session one for the vocal duties. Odd, if not dumb. But these were the band’s decisions. At least Kyle is back behind the kit, as he and John greet one Joe Lombard for the bass duties through the remainder of the decade, or until his tragic passing. I’m just A BIT relived this band would finally settle for a full-time lineup again for the next couple of years.

Blasphemy contains speedier songs, but not technical like Diabolical Conquest and The Infernal Storm. We’re also getting more quantity of songs to choose from, and most of them being shorter but the one eight-minute Uprising Heresy, not to mention TWO outros, the first being approximately 23 minutes. I want to save you the trouble by coming across those two, as the first outro is just a long noise throughout the entire track, while the second outro is quite dark and atmospheric, containing a lot of samples like reversed wording and some pig squealing. I’ve seen crap like this with nu metal bands, where they would record a song and then continue recording for a few minutes until a secret song begins. As much as I would want substance, it wasn’t happening here.

Now, let’s start with the actual material of this blasphemous record. With the eleven songs here, you get about 48 minutes of some old school Incantation, but it’s nothing you haven’t heard of already, which is unfortunate. The transition between the sheer blast beats and double bass work to thrash-like beats, the heavy guitar riffs, steady bass lines, and the vocals that haven’t really changed. So they produced that with shorter songs. At least they got a better production, but it’s not exactly a necessity in extreme metal. Wanna talk about blasphemy (or lack thereof in the band’s respect)? It’s a blasphemy (or lack thereof) the repetition the band continues to produce, when they can do better, and this time it’s really quantity over quality.

With all that lousiness for short songs, I harvested two gems. Once Holy Throne perfectly builds a slow, doomy atmosphere. The guitar tone is very effective in both the steadier riffs and the slower ones, as well as the double bass that builds up. It may sound like it’s lacking substance compared to other songs, even the ones that are bad. It still came out fresh. Descend Seraphic Irreverence‘s main riff is addictive and blissful, along with the drums work around it. Although short for its excellence, it’s better to leave it as it is since the album is barely making an effort.

Incantation's fifth album was a landmark for the band. They left Relapse Records to sign with Candlelight, Kyle Severn returned to the drum kit, and Joe Lombard joined the band on bass. This line up (along with Mike Saez returning as just a session vocalist) put together a very straightforward death metal LP that I consider a much more worthy follow up to "Diabolical Conquest" than "The Infernal Storm" was.

John McEntee has stated that this is his favourite Incantation record, citing the return of Severn as the main reason. Indeed, these songs feel more fleshed out, but they're not by any means overly extravagant or fancy. Instead, we have really focused sounding death metal with zero fat. We get the tremolo riffs you'd expect from an Incantation record, alongside some doomier sections. Each song clearly has its own motif going on, but with the sequencing, some of them bleed into the next. This is evident right away with the transition between the first two tracks, with a mere bass slide breaking up the two. This happens again with the gloomy "A Once Holy Throne" going into the high speed "A Crown of Decayed Salvation." Two very different songs, but they just seem so right next to each other, a theme that runs throughout the entire record.

The production on this album, as expected, is great. This was the third full length they recorded up in Cleveland at Mars Studio, and Bill Korecky always did a great job getting the best sounds out of this band. The guitars sound huge, every part of the drum kit sounds powerful, and the bass sits nice in the mix too. There are a few parts where Lombard's bass line introduces a section (such as the intro to "The Fallen"), and his finger playing adds a nice percussive texture to it. There's also that quick solo drum fill in "His Weak Hand" where Severn runs through several toms, and each have a well balanced boom and appropriate attack. If you're a nerd like I am about audio engineering, you'll appreciate how crisp they sound.

Plenty of hooks can be found throughout this records, right from the title track all the way to the end. "The Fallen" has a nice hook with some rest notes in the riff, balanced with the vocal pattern. "Rotting With Your Christ" is bound to stick in your head with its infectiously doomy chorus. Their signature contrast of tempo/feel really help these riffs breathe and stand out among each other. Later in the album, the doom elements are really expanded upon in "Uprising Heresy," which builds up nicely over its 8+ minute duration.

The only problems I have with this album are the cover art and the bonus tracks. Former drummer Paul Ledney (of Profanatica) provided the 3D rendered art, and it just looks tacky. It's kind of like how Iron Maiden used that horrific 3D art on "Dance of Death," but not quite as errant. Meanwhile, I really don't understand the purpose of including the "experimental"/ambient outro tracks, which clock in at a ridiculous 26 minutes together. Allegedly, these were a shot at Relapse Records and the bands they were signing at the time. Even though they're trying to take a stance against that kind of stuff, it's still showing up on the record, and I still have to skip these tracks.

"Blasphemy" doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it is a refreshingly powerful death metal record that checks all the boxes for what a fan would want out of an Incantation album. It also sets the table for the next couple albums, as McEntee would end up taking over vocals and the band would function as a power trio. I feel like Saez's vocals provided the template for McEntee's approach. This is the only Incantation record that hasn't seen a vinyl press, and I can only hope that with the band working with Relapse again, that'll change (and hopefully with the outro tracks excluded). This is easily one of the best Incantation records, and I highly recommend it if you've already sunk your teeth into the first three.

United States of America is well known for being one of the pioneers and most brutal exponents of death metal acts in the world. Outstanding examples of this musical style are Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation, Deicide, Immolation, Evil Incarnate and of course Incantation. Being a death metal fan for a while, has given me the opportunity to listen to most extreme bands that this world has vomit so far and I can tell that Incantation is one leading this infernal legion. Now let’s put an end to the bullshit and let’s go straight to business.

Any death metal addict knows that Incantation is the type of metal band that deals with religion hating and occultism topics and it is also a fact that these kinds of lyrics are sometimes stupid and repetitive and this record is not the exception. If you are looking for originality in the lyrics please don’t buy this record, title tracks such as “The Sacrilegious Apocalypse of Righteousness and Agonizing Dementia (The Final Defilement Of Your Lord)” are very explicit and redundant about the band’s ideology. (this one is an instrumental track but after reading the title track I really got the point, these guys hate religion!) But if you’re looking for extreme evil music and old school death metal, this is just the perfect record for you. To have a general picture of what kind of music you will find in this full length I will define it as blasphemous brutality; blasphemous lyrics and straight in your face death metal as if all hell breaks loose in your bedroom with black and doom metal influences, especially in the guitars (see Asphyx).

In this particular CD you will find the perfect amount of old school feeling mixed with some sludgy and half tempo parts (see Asphyx). Examples of this not so clear description (I’m having some beers while listening to Incantation’s “Blasphemy” and writing the review) are “Misanthropic Indulgence”, “Once Holy Throne” and one of my favorites, “Rotting with your Christ”. This one starts with 29 seconds of a sludgy and low tone guitar that seems to repeat rotting with your Christ on and on and then next thing you hear is the infernal voice of Mike Saez (session Vocals) which makes a decent job through all this record but cannot be compared to old times with Craig Pillard and even with Daniel Corchado. Then, drums and guitars unleash hell and you feel the need of smashing your head against the nearest wall and then put the remaining parts of your brain back together just to do it again as you listen to this guy screaming “This Jesus must die!”. This is what you will feel throughout the eleven tracks, pure hatred against religion and perfectly executed old school death metal.

Being Incantation’s sixth release does not mean monotony or the repetition of previous releases, no way dude actually this record is pretty solid and songs like “Crown of Decayed Salvation”, “The Fallen”, “His weak Hand”, “Blasphemy” and “Deceiver (Self-Righteous Betrayer)” show you that this hellish band is not fucking kidding about making the most brutal and blood thirsty death metal on earth. Indeed, don’t try to compare this record with previous ones due to the fact that this is a different line up and their music has matured through the years (not the case of the lyrics). Yes I know and without a doubt, Onward to Golgotha Upon the Throne of Apocalypse and Diabolical Conquest are corner stones of death metal but this record has a new vibe a new blasphemy I would say, not like most old school death metal bands that end up releasing any goth or alternative shit (see Atrocity or Morgoth) Anyways, in some passages you can hear remembrances of old Incantation material.

Don’t be afraid, go ahead and give this record a try, no matter if you are fan of the old stuff or if this is your first encounter with Incantation’s blasphemous music, you won’t be disappointed. Why not give this record a 100? Well, I have the same cliché answer: it is evil and brutal but not as evil and brutal as Onward to Golgotha, Upon the Throne of Apocalypse and Diabolical Conquest.

Incantation is a band that I always enjoy listening to, but rarely ever just sit and listen very intently, so I have kind of a hard time comparing this to past works. I did listen to Diabolical Conquest right before sitting down to this one to write the review, though. That helped refresh my memory. At the start of the album, one thing that does strike me is that while still very dark for death metal, it's nowhere as near as dark and suffocating as what they have done in the past. It feels almost as if they have moved slightly in the direction of a more typical Florida death sound. It's not a big move in that direction, just a few inches, but it's slightly noticeable. Unfortunately they also seem to have lost some of their fierceness. I probably would have rated this a little bit higher if I had not listened to Diabolical Conquest right before writing this review. That album slays this one. Luckily, things do get a little darker on the third track, A Once Holy Throne. This is the sound that I am more used to from them. Crown of Decayed Salvation makes me tend to space out, but in a good way. It's just very hypnotic sounding. I really dig the slow repetitive riff in The Sacrilegious Apocalypse of Righteousness and Agonizing Dementia (The Final Defilement of Your Lord). This song is really the only thing on the album that feels as evil as the stuff on their other albums. It serves as an intro to Deceiver (Self-righteous Betrayer) which kicks ass as well. The last two songs are the best on the album. Uprising Heresy is slower than a constipated rhino's bowel movement and I fucking love it. Misanthropic Indulgence has a faster tempo but still calmly rolls along like an evil tank from hell. This album really is a slight decline from what they have done in the past. Luckily, the weakest material is at the beginning and from the third song onward things are better. Just because this is their worst album does not make it bad though. I still really enjoy this, it just probably will not be getting as much spin time in my stereo as others.