SPAWN OF POSSESSION — Incurso (review)

SPAWN OF POSSESSION — Incurso album cover Album · 2012 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Incurso" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish technical death metal act Spawn of Possession. The album was released through Relapse Records in March 2012. "Incurso" is the first album by the Swedes since the critically acclaimed "Noctambulant (2006)". Six years is a long time between album releases and quite a few lineup changes have occured in those years. Lead vocalist Jonas Renvaktar has been replaced by Dennis Röndum (who also performed vocals on the band´s debut album "Cabinet (2003)". The latter played the drums on "Noctambulant (2006)". New drummer on "Incurso" is Henrik Schönström. Erlend Caspersen and Christian Müenzner (Defeated Sanity, Necrophagist, Obscura) has also been added to the lineup. Respectively on bass and lead guitar. All the lineup changes mean that guitarist Jonas Bryssling is the only member of the band playing the same thing as he did on "Noctambulant (2006)".

The music on the album is technical and rather brutal death metal. Spawn of Possession are slightly more old school than most other technical brutal death metal acts out there, but "Incurso" does display a more contemporary side of the band´s sound too. Lots of lightning fast fretboard work, tempo- and time signature changes and brutal growling vocals are some of the ingredients of the album. Acts like Obscura, Necrophagist and Gorod come to mind but with an added more old school edge. The vocals are for instance growling all the way through.

The tracks are challenging and extremely well played but also a bit hard to tell apart because memorable hooks are few and far between, ultimately making the album sound a bit one-dimensional (although repeated listens reveal more details and catchy moments). Sometimes it´s like the band stumble over themselves to deliver the most technical playing possible and it doesn´t always work to their advantage (some of the playing on the album is incredibly technical and designed to make your jaw drop). In my book technical playing in death metal should be a means to an end and not just applied to show off your skills and unfortunately the latter sometimes seems to be the case here.

The excessive focus on technical playing is not a huge issue though (and to some it´s probably the greatest asset of the album), and "Incurso" is still a very impressive death metal album with a powerful and detailed sound production, excellent musicianship and intriguing songwriting, and fans of the genre are strongly recommended to give it a listen. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.
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