O' Hell, Shine in Thy Whited Sepulchres

Let it be known that I have no problem with drawing heavy influence particular style of a band or album. Provided no direct plagiarism takes place, some sort of spin is put on it and the newer band can pull off that sound convincingly, there isn't really a problem there. What I can't forgive is when a band goes out of their way to copy something they plainly don't understand or aren't very good at, and that's exactly what's going on with Encoffination's work. There's no reason to listen to this band's work at all - not because they produce inferior facsimiles of a classic sound but because they miss the point of that sound entirely and end up making music with not much going for it at all.

On the off chance you haven't worked it out from the band's name and logo or indeed from the title of this review, Encoffination play Incantation-worshipping death metal, specifically zeroing in on Onward to Golgotha, as they try to recreate the cavernous sound of that album here. As I've mentioned however, they've rather missed the point of what made Onward to Golgotha such an immense, planet-sized album. The ridiculously massive and slightly degraded production that album has is part of what makes it special. While Encoffination clearly realised this, having achieved a guitar tone that approaches Monotheist or Realm of Chaos in its sheer heaviness, the overall sound of the album doesn't stand up in the same way. The guitar tone and drums are too clean and polished to bleed together into a wall of sound as they did on Onward to Golgotha, and as a result while this album is undeniably extremely heavy the sound doesn't have quite the same impact as the Incantation album. In the grand scheme of things however this is the least of this album's problems.

Where the band completely fall down is that they get far too carried away with crafting an atmosphere and aesthetic. Onward to Golgotha had loads of giant riffs to go with its giant production, while on here the guitar work is extremely bland. The guitar parts on this release are written to serve the atmosphere as opposed to being written to drive the songs and create an atmosphere through the progression of a song. The consequences of this are what kill the album: the songs are virtually motionless in the way they are written, with songs ending right where they started. They're specifically trying to recreate one aspect of Incantation's debut: namely it's slowest, most crushing moments, and they achieve this by playing very slowly. As a result there are virtually no changes of pace, climaxes or twists in the songwriting as there would be with Incantation; all the band do here is play slow, ringing/droning guitar parts and very bland riffs that never grab the listener's attention, all in the pursuit of heaviness at the expense of everything else. The drummer plays equally slow and dull beats with very little change to speak of, and the vocalist sort of sits there in the middle of the music, not impacting the motion or intensity of the songs at all. His growls are nowhere near as deep or powerful as Craig Pillard's performances with Incantation, sounding much more like a run of the mill death metal vocalist, one that can't even match the heaviness of the songs.

The music gets very boring very quickly and after about 45 seconds or so you'd wish they would do something more with the music, but it never comes to pass. The sheer unexcitement of the music kills any atmosphere they go for as the listener's mind will start wandering shortly after the first song starts because there's nothing engaging to focus on while listening. This is totally pointless music: it's Onward to Golgotha worship that misses the point of Onward to Golgotha. It's atmospheric death metal with virtually no atmosphere. It's death metal with no intensity to it. It's metal with no good riffs.

It's shit.

One of the more 'serious' projects in the vast lexicon of US musicians Ghoat (Justin Stubbs) and Elektrokutioner (Wayne Sarantopolous), Encoffination was formed with the intention of bridging the gaps between crushing, funereal doom and the nostalgic death metal that the duo gestates in their other collaborations Father Befouled and Festered. I say 'serious' because often with various of their works you can clearly grasp the endearing, tongue in cheek horror concepts, but O' Hell, Shine is Thy Whited Sepulchres could never be mistaken for anything even bordering on funny, unless you've got the sickest sense of humor this side of dead baby jokes. Brooding, somnolent, and oppressive, this sophomore strives to function almost solely on its atmosphere: you don't turn to Encoffination for riffs, they are merely means to an end. Your end.

Unfortunately, I almost wish they HAD preened the guitars just an inkling further when writing this material, because much of it feels rushed out the door, or about as rushed as this sort of sluggish molasses could allow. There are numerous strengths to the album, for instance the great intro "Sacrum Profanum Processionali" with its bells, atmosphere and incantations. The massive guttural devotions of Ghoat, which swell to the ceilings and arches of its emotional catacombs. The epic contrast of the drums, between its tinny hi hats/cymbals and enormously thundering deep end, the latter of which is moving enough to empty your bowels alone. For myself, though, I found the riffs in which the down-tuned tremolo guitar lines were joined by these curving, hypnotic bass lines to be the most memorable on the album, like the opening sequence of "Crypt of His Communal Devourment" or the drudgery of the verses in "Pall of Unrequited Blood". Sadly, the guitar lines themselves are not exactly evocative, just strings of notes that make sense for the style but fail to cling to the depressive mental nodes the album draws to the fore.

Encoffination recognizes the limitations of the medium, and thus some credit can be given for their implementation of atmospherics like low, brooding organs or haunted bells, but no matter how hard they season some of these riffs with funereal textures, they still often feel like tedious, disposable death/doom derivative of early 90s artists like Asphyx, Thergothon, Sorrow, Skepticism, Unholy, Disembowelment, etc. It's too bad, because where this album works, it works fairly well, and I enjoy a few of the other bands these guys are involved in. They've evinced mightier tones from their equipment here than on the more subdued, somber Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh from 2010, but then it's not quite so engrossing either, since that album had this palpable distance to it which felt like you were experiencing it through some Cyclopean, forgotten subterranean temple in which you were soon to be sacrificed. O' Hell is far more up front and in the listener's face, and appreciably depressing, but I wish the metallic components had been up to snuff with its pacing and atmosphere.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

I can sincerely say that the debut album from US mammoths Encoffination was one of the most earth shaking releases of past years. When I got it, I just didn't expect to hear such a fuckin heavy and damn slow piece of death doom metal. And so when Selfmadegod announced the release of the second CD, I didn't hesitate and ordered myself a copy straight away, although this time I already knew exactly what I can expect from this band. Another major factor that made me put an order so quickly was the must of buying the limited edition of the CD on black jewel with a t-shirt. Now I can say it’s one of the best looking releases ever, it presents amazing. That t-shirt already belongs to my favourites, with the skeletons and skulls and some lyrics printed with a golden paint, it is effective as hell. The black jewel of CD looks alike; with golden skull on the front it immediately brings a cold, mystic and sinister atmosphere. And the booklet... Well, the painting of (Spanish painter of the Baroque era) Juan de Veldes Leal's "Finis gloriae mundi" - "end of the glory of the world" – is thrilling. And so is the booklet, looking like an old book, with golden pages and many different pictures and lyrics inside. Definitely it is one of the best booklets I've ever seen (well, the one for "Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh" was also pretty cool!). So, for the visual aspect of "O' Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres" I give 10 out of 10.

If we speak about the music of Encoffination only, I must say that I have an impression it isn't for everyone. There will only be very few maniacs, who this music will fully devour, as its atmosphere is so creepy and the whole is played in such a slow and hypnotizing tempo that it will throw most of you away. Just imagine the slowest, most depressing and anti-joyful music ever, the marriage of sick doom riffing with death metal growlings and the most horrifying atmosphere. Something like that can't be a comfortable listening experience, I can assure you about that! Encoffination does everything to make sure that "O' Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres" will be your most traumatic voyage ever, so they don't even try to play some faster tunes or put some melodies or whatever. No, the whole is totally monotonous, slow paced, cryptic doom / death you can imagine.

Personally I would normally prefer to listen to some faster tunes, if they're in the vein of Swedish death metal, then better. There are not as many such albums like "O' Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres", which would hit my interest. But there's something unique and special about Encoffination. I let them drag me into this amazing, almost agonising atmosphere first, which is about the essence of death and rituals. Just read these words: "...O' Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres is a monument to the rites and process of human mortality. Death is the penultimate experience of the human condition. How we memorialize and commemorate our dead through rituals and ceremonies speaks volumes for and against our humanity". And by agonising, I really mean this word, as the music sounds like someone slowly have been torturing you, delivering the most excruciating pains and you've been choking in your own blood, fighting for the last breath. For the purely musical values, there's nothing really original here and definitely not entertaining. What's more, basically all songs sounds the same, the tempos are the same and so do the riffs and vocals also... So for that matter the album sounds terribly boring. But something what would be a negative aspect for most of the records, for "O' Hell, Shine in thy Whited Sepulchres" plays an important role in bonding all the ingredients together and creating one hell of a deathly ritual. I just can’t imagine Encoffination changing it all and destroying the whole atmosphere by addition of blast beats or whatever. This isn’t this kind of music. I also don’t think any comparisons would make sense as Encoffination is too slow for Incantation (although some resemblances are noticeable) and too deathly for the usual doom metal band. Doesn’t matter, they’re in their own league.

So, just play this album, smell the stench of dead and let the tomb close with you inside.

Lurching from the mist, each step a belabored and murderous endeavor, O'h Hell, Shine In Thy Whited Sepulchres is in no hurry. Much like Death itself slowly creeps upon us all, so too does this album, unabashedly fearless in its sheer slowness. And if a slow and painful Death is what you seek, than Encoffination are more than happy to provide it, so long as you don't ask many questions or have a preference on how you wish to die.

By the logo alone, one can assume Encoffination are influence greatly by Incantation, and sure enough you can find those mighty New Yorker's fingerprints all over this record, mostly in the mostly tremolo picked riffing style and Ghoat's guttural vocal attack. But among Incantation's obvious influence, one also finds Thergothon and to a lesser extent disEMBOWELMENT. So if you are imagining punishingly slow Incantation worship songs with the occasional use of things like bells, organs and ritualistic chanting and moaning, you have imagined O'h Hell, Shine In Thy Whited Sepulchres.

And that is all you can expect from it as well. Each track sounds pretty much the same as the other(which would have been fine if they did not have breaks between each song), with the only distinguishing factors being the use of other sounds. If not for the occasional bells or chants, each song would be mostly indistinguishable from each other, often following similar patterns(slow intro, a slight pick up in speed near the middle, a lurching outro). The album might be slow, but it falls into a rut quickly and never bothers trying to escape: like Death, Encoffination will never stop doing what they do... slowly.

O'h Hell, Shine In Thy Whited Sepulchres is a massive step up for Encoffination, a band I have never been crazy about. The production, and the album in general, absolutely demolishes the paper thin, bedroom kvlt shit-fest of Ritual Ascension Beyond Flesh, and at times the band can evoke some truly nasty atmosphere. But riff for riff, there is just not a lot going on here, and while the bands commitment to their sound is admirable, the lack of any unique ideas makes it hard to sit through this record multiple times. Death is coming for us all, slowly and surely, but in my time here on Earth, I don't imagine I will be spending too much of it with O'Hell, Shine In They Whited Sepulchres.

Rating: 7/10

originally posted at http://curseofthegreatwhiteelephant.blogspot.com/