SPAWN OF POSSESSION — Incurso (review)

SPAWN OF POSSESSION — Incurso album cover Album · 2012 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
J-Man
If you've been blown away by the killer technical death metal from newer bands like Obscura or Abysmal Dawn, Relapse Records now has another band on their roster to satisfy that itch for brutal, semi-melodic, and inhumanly technical death metal. Enter Spawn of Possession, a Swedish five-piece that has made their major label debut, and third album overall, with the masterful Incurso. I was, ashamedly, unfamiliar with these Swedes before a promotional copy of this album rolled into my inbox, but 'better late than never' certainly applies here. Incurso is Spawn of Possession's first album since 2006's Noctambulant, and although there have been a few lineup changes over the past five-plus years, the band's technical-edged extreme metal sound remains fully in-tact.

Technical death metal is known by most people as a genre focused on blinding guitar leads, frantic drum patterns, and brutally challenging composition styles, and while this all certainly applies to Spawn of Possession, they take the dizzying sound of technical death metal and showcase the genre at its highest potential. Very much like their labelmates in Obscura, Spawn of Possession is not afraid to sneak some memorable hooks into their otherwise punishing tech-death sound, and I think this versatility and modern-sounding approach in terms of songwriting is what sets Spawn of Possession apart from the hordes of bands that are still trying to relive the classic days of Cryptopsy, Atheist, and Death. Incurso shows the result of a forward-thinking, talented band taking the very best of technical death metal and updating it for the modern age.

After the ominous intro in the form of "Abodement", the band dives head-first into brutal, technical death metal in "Where Angels Go Demons Follow". For the most part, technical death metal is the name of the game throughout Incurso, but frequent changes within riff structures, a monstrous rhythm section, and rather dynamic songwriting keeps the album from ever feeling one-dimensional. The copious amounts of keyboards in "Apparition" even brings 2011's Agony from Fleshgod Apocalypse to mind, with its symphonic flirtations over-top of brutal tech-death working like a charm.

With the musicianship also remaining impeccable across the board (I especially have to give a nod to Henrik Schönström - few drummers manage to kill my self esteem as much as this guy!), it's really tough to find any complaints when we're talking about a technical death metal album of this caliber. Incurso secures Spawn of Possession's place among the elite modern tech-death acts, and I'd recommend this within a heartbeat to anyone who enjoys music from the likes of Obscura, Abysmal Dawn, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Atheist, or late-period Death. In short, Incurso is a modern death metal masterpiece and a landmark album for extreme metal in 2012 - don't miss it!
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Diogenes wrote:
more than 2 years ago
First listen puts me with Phonebook Eater on this one.
Time Signature wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Witnessing these two reviews pop up at the same time was an interesting experience....
UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
And my review which I haven´t posted yet is somewhere in between :-)
Phonebook Eater wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Ah! we reviewed the same album at almost the same time, and our opinions are completely opposite one another.
URGH.

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