Morbid Angel, Watain and Incantation in Omaha: December 6, 2019

This is likely the last concert of the year for me, and I saved one of the best ones for last.  Morbid Angel is headlining the USA Sickness tour with support from Watain and Incantation for some absolutely family-friendly, Christmas-themed mayhem.  That description may have been a bit facetious.  The venue was The Waiting Room.

INCANTATION

Incantation are pioneers in their own brand of murky, doom-laden, occult death metal.  And that style was on full display here as the band pulled from their impressive 30-year legacy.  They played a fairly short set, but it featured a number of the band's most well-known tracks, including "The Ibex Moon" and "Rites of the Locust".  Incantation proved equally adept at grinding, slow-paced, colossal riffs as faster-paced steamroller riffs.  

WATAIN

The Swedish black metal throwbacks had a rough start to the tour as guitarist Pelle Forsberg was forbidden from entering the U.S.  But Watain has risen above that and stole the show at the concert.  It helps that they were the most theatrical, decorating the stage like a macabre abattoir, draping animal bones all over every single surface, including sticking some animal heads on tridents stationed near the microphone.  They also used torches and incense on stage to add to the atmosphere.  But more than that, they simply laid waste to everything with their massively intense setlist.  Watain was the band I was most interested in seeing at this concert and they delivered in every way.  My wife was not able to stay and watch, due to a sensitivity to the incense.  She missed out.

MORBID ANGEL

Over the last couple of years I have been developing an appreciation for Steve Tucker's work with Morbid Angel.  Previously I had avoided that era, choosing instead to focus on the David Vincent work.  But after checking out Gateways to Annihilation and being blown away, I have been picking up more and more of the Tucker albums.  It helps that the band revitalized their career after reuniting with Vincent and releasing Kingdoms Disdained.  Morbid Angel played mostly songs from the Tucker era, which makes sense, but also meant that classics like "Chapel of Ghouls" and "God of Emptiness" were not played.  They did play "Unholy Blasphemies" and a few other songs from Blessed are the Sick though.  They were impressive, but after the amazing show by Watain, Morbid Angel's more restrained performance was a bit of a letdown.

This was one of the more intense concerts I have been to in some time, and the circle pit extended out to my area of the crowd, which was not real great.  I was splashed with some alcohol and run into by a couple of out of control moshers.  Other than that, it was a HELL of a good time.

Incantation: Vanquish in Vengeance (2012)

Incantation is a legendary band in the death metal scene.  The Pennsylvanian (not to be confused with Transylvanian) band released one of the landmark albums in death metal history with the 1992 release Onward to Golgotha.  It took death metal into even more of an occult direction with eerie atmosphere, murky production and blasphemous lyrics.  It also led to a slew of imitators, bands trying hard to match that sound, but there is still just one Incantation.

The band has been steadily releasing material ever since their debut, though they have never been able to top that album.  The band is guitarist John McEntee's project at this point in time.  He was one of the founding members (other founding member Paul Ledney has split and formed Profanatica and Havohej) and has performed vocal duties since 2004.  This album was released after an uncharacteristic six-year gap since the previous album and sees the band coming back strong.

Guitar riffs still lurch and crawl throughout the album like an undead creature stalking its prey.  The croaking vocals are still suitably sepulchral.  The band is at its best when it is playing slower-paced songs.  The malevolence comes through that much clearer.  But their faster-paced material is no slouch either.  If I had to complain about one aspect, it would probably be the production.  This is a much more modern sound and it is very clear and crisp, but that is not necessarily what we are looking for from Incantation.  The murky riffs and grave subject matter require murkier production.  The riffs should feel more swampy and bogged-down. 

I quite like this release.  It still does stand up to Onward to Golgotha, but very few albums do.  But this is probably the second-best album I have yet heard from Incantation.

Albums I Missed in 2012

PALLBEARER: SORROW AND EXTINCTION

GRAND MAGUS: THE HUNT

GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT: BOW DOWN BEFORE THE BLOOD COURT

EVOCATION: ILLUSIONS OF GRANDEUR

INCANTATION: VANQUISH IN VENGEANCE

My 100 Favorite Metal bands Pt. 58: Incantation

Incantation arose around the same time as bands like Immolation, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, and others. They were clearly influenced by the occult death metal sounds of Morbid Angel, but they took this influence to the extreme. They are heavier, with more jagged riffs, and a murkier atmosphere than Morbid Angel. And that's really saying something. Incantation is the sound of evil, plain and simple. Unfortunately, it has been this extremity that has banished them deep in the underground, only devoted death metal fans are really familiar with the band. I'm pretty sure though that Incantation would not have it any other way.

FAVORITE ALBUM: ONWARD TO GOLGOTHA

Halloween Playlist

I am heading to my hometown for the weekend, so this is the last post before Halloween. Halloween has always been my favorite holiday, and being that heavy metal can sound pretty spooky, it's the right season for the music. So here's what I am listening to this weekend:

Cradle of Filth
King Diamond
Mercyful Fate
Incantation

I know Cradle of Filth is not a particularly well-respected band amongst the true metalheads out there, but I find this particular season particularly appropriate for listening to them. The band blends gothic metal, thrash metal, and black metal and mixes that with a very dark atmosphere. Lyrically, Cradle of Filth covers morbid sexuality, supernatural events, and basic gothic horror. Dani Filth is a hell of a lyricist and possesses a vocal style all his own. I have been listening to all of the band's albums.

King Diamond and Mercyful Fate really need no introduction and I have covered them both extensively in the past.

I will also be listening to Incantation's Onward to Golgotha, a favorite album of mine that I have just not had an opportunity to hear for some time. The grimy riffs and spellbinding songs are just the kind of thing I am looking for this season. Excellent New York death metal.

Scary Albums in Honor of Halloween

Okay this one is similar to the Scary Album Covers posts but a little different. This time we're talking about actual albums that are a little frightening from a musical standpoint, albums that curdle the blood and send chills up the spine, albums that are so complex that they sound as if they came from another world. Yes, there are a few, and I'm not referring to the latest from Lady Gaga.

CELTIC FROST: MONOTHEIST

Celtic Frost has always had some spinechilling songs, but on this album, they stretch things over the full course of the record. Even though the band utilizes some clean singing, the vocals are so desperate and cold, that they sound otherworldly. The riffs are typical Celtic Frost bass-heavy riffs that sound like the machinations of Lovecraftian beasts. This album is truly unnerving, taking hold of the listener for over an hour. Once it is over, it is like being able to see the sunlight after days trapped in a cave.

COFFINS: MORTUARY IN DARKNESS

The cover image is frightening enough. Coffins sounds like an even more dark and possessed version of Celtic Frost playing a style of death/doom that is so morosely slow as to actually sound as if it were produced by the zombie-like monsters that so often appear on the band's album covers. The faster tracks sound as if they could have come from Celtic Frost themselves, while the slower ones sound as if they came from the pits of Hell.

DARKTHRONE: TRANSILVANIAN HUNGER

That's the band's spelling not mine. This is a classic album from the Norwegian second wave of black metal band. It features the eponymous title track, one of the most well-known and disturbing songs about vampires in heavy metal. Everything else is minimalist, simple, one riff, classic black metal with an extremely dark atmosphere. Only the title track is in English and not knowing what is being said somehow makes the rest of the songs that much more frightening.

DEMILICH: NESPITHE

Demilich's only full length gives off the atmosphere of being trapped in a dark, dank, moist, cold cave. The music is ungodly complicated featuring numerous changes in time signature and speed as to leave the listener completely disoriented. Then there are the vocals, a sound that can best be described as the croaking of a dying bullfrog.

INCANTATION: ONWARD TO GOLGOTHA

Incantation was one of the early bands that blended death metal with doom metal and achieved a Hellish sound in the process. The band's angular riffs, throbbing bass, and pummeling drums form the backdrop behind some of the most terrifying vocals in American death metal. The atmosphere is as dark as the Satanic and Anti-Christian subject matter. Most occult death metal bands have been trying to emulate this sound for years, but this is the original.

MAYHEM: DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS

Quite possibly the quintessential black metal album. This album was recorded after the death of vocalist Dead and featuring Attila Csihar's chaotic vocal phrasing and shrieking. It was also recorded before the murder of guitarist Euronymous at the hands of bassist Varg Vikernes. The backstory alone makes it a frightening piece, then there is the cold music itself. This album, along with Darkthrone's above-mentioned album completely changed the course of black metal, changing the focus to simple riffs and dark atmosphere. I love to listen to this album with all the lights off during a thunderstorm at night.

PORTAL: OUTRE'

The music cannot even be described, it is so off the wall strange. Portal pushes the boundaries of metal, and indeed music in general as far as possible. The riffs are chaotic, the drumming seemingly out of nowhere, and the vocals are tortured screams. Portal is one of the most original metal bands to come out in years. I cannot even tell if I enjoy their album or not, it is so strange. All I know is that I feel uneasy whenever I listen to it, and that makes it a prime candidate for this list.

SATAN'S HOST: SATANIC GRIMOIRE:
A GREATER BLACK MAGICK

Satan's Host is a unique band. They hail from Colorado and formed in the mid 1980's when they played power metal with occult lyrics. They didn't last long though and broke up. They reformed in the last few years playing a style of blackened thrash and upped the ante on their lyrics. The band is clearly Satanist and feature many invocations to Satan in their albums. This one is no exception. Musically, they are pretty good, though not as good as other blackened thrash groups, it's when they see fit to add in an atmospheric track that they really get strange.

Ibex Moon Records

Check out the widget on the right of this page to hear some songs from bands on Ibex Moon Records, one of my favorite record labels. Ibex Moon Records is a small label run by John McEntee of Incantation which specializes in death metal bands that play the music the right way. I recently purchased two albums released from the label and have purchased many more over the years. This label deserves support.

Occult Death Metal

There are several forms of death metal out there. There is the obvious gore-obsessed death metal from acts like Cannibal Corpse. There is highly technical and brutal death metal from bands like Suffocation. Then there are the overtly evil bands. Let's look at three of the leaders from the occult death metal movement.

MORBID ANGEL

Morbid Angel is the originator and most well-known of the sub-genre. Morbid Angel is also one of the first death metal bands ever. They arose out of the mid to late 1980's playing a heavier, more complex, and evil sounding style of thrash metal that then came to be known as death metal. Their lyrics were focused on Satanism and other occult themes. The vocals were extreme, much huskier than thrash metal shrieks, but death metal had not gotten to the guttural vocal style now familiar. Morbid Angel actually proved fairly popular in the early 1990's when thrash, and metal in general, was struggling.

INCANTATION

Incantation took the Morbid Angel formula, added some doom elements and ran with it, to become perhaps the most evil-sounding band to date. Incantation's music is frightening. Slow, with jagged riffs, guttural vocals, heavy bass sound, murky production, and pounding drums. Incantation's leader John McEntee also owns and operates Ibex Moon Records, a label devoted to putting out releases from powerful death metal, acts like Dreaming Dead, Dawn of Azazel, Thornafire, and Estuary.

IMMOLATION

Immolation is only slightly less frightening than Incantation. They don't have the doom metal elements that make Incantation stand out, instead choosing a more straightforward death metal approach forged by Morbid Angel. Immolation has a knack for infectious, yet extremely evil lyrics and songs.

Others playing this style: Blaspherian, Drawn and Quartered, Nox, Angelcorpse, Thornafire.