Dissecting the autopsy – 77%
Annable Courts, January 13th, 2025
Boy, this is influential shit right here, isn’t it. First in the most general way, death metal from 19-eighty anything is a remarkable feat, even if it’s the last year from the decade (1989 in this case). Is that Incantation’s entire signature sound on the slower, lugubrious doomy riffs ? Hear end of ‘Charred Remains’. Then, the vocals are pretty extreme for the time and really push the envelope in places. And that guitar tone: fairly close to the infamous Swedish chainsaw tone, isn’t it ? Look for parts when the hard panned guitar plays a riff in solo (eg. opening seconds of the album). Add to that those guitars are clearly not playing in standard tuning, and are low as hyuck for that time period.
The song ‘Gasping for Air’, in particular, is quite reminiscent of a band like early Entombed; which isn’t to suggest the latter were just sitting around somewhere in Sweden staring at a wall when all of a sudden they heard this in 1989 then hurried to the studio the following year to release their first studio album. But songs like that one here seem to give a blueprint for the entire first wave Swedish DM sound. From the brutish to mid scream vocal style, to the overall drumming, riffing, composition/song structure, bluesy guitar solos, and even guitar tone. Interesting.
Giving the influential aspect a rest, this album in itself is certainly very intense and possesses a pretty unique energy about it. Where all of that effort may not be landing is towards an ability to make it count as meaningful song writing. Again, this is super intense, and they got the heavy part right, all that… but the songs, as seminal and “important” as they may be, are often more like a demonstration of force than anything. A few sections are more on the recognizable side, and a few more sophisticated lead over chord sections (‘Pagan Saviour’) can be found, but this has a general “fire at will” ethos. The solos are the same way: uptempo rhythm, bombs away on the pentatonics and crazy shreds.
This is really more like a giant live mosh-pit party from the olden days of formative extreme metal. Bands like early Scandinavian DM, or later goregrind, for instance, can trace definite influence back to this sole record. In that, one could consider it a classic. It could be argued the fan and historian at large appreciates the overall effort and feel for this sound, perhaps more than any one specific song. What the band manage to supply as an overall product, with the doomy stuff, grindy faster/nastier moments, sheer death metal riffing from way back, that huge bass sound, as well as the early horror/gory aesthetic… this all bears significance much weightier than mere archeological traces.
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