INCANTATION — Onward to Golgotha (review)

INCANTATION — Onward to Golgotha album cover Album · 1992 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Onward to Golgotha" is the debut full-length studio album by US death metal act Incantation. The album was released through Relapse Records in May 1992. Incantation formed in 1989 and are one of the greatly influential "Big Three" East Coast based death metal acts to appear in the late 80s/early 90s. The other two being Suffocation and Immolation. Incantation released two 1990 demos, the 1990 "Entrantment of Evil" EP, and the 1991 "Deliverance of Horrific Prophecies/Profanation" single/EP, before releasing "Onward to Golgotha", and they therefore weren´t new to recording music.

The music on the album is blasphemous themed death metal in the vein of early Morbid Angel and Immolation. Incantation has a murky and dark "evil" sound which sets them apart though. The music is very brutal and the songs are not easy to tell apart even after many listens, which isn´t helped by the fact that lead vocalist/guitarist Craig Pillard´s growls are abysmal deep and unintelligible. The tracks feature both blasting parts, heavy death metal parts, and quite a few crushingly heavy doomy parts. One of the great assets of "Onward to Golgotha" is the morbid hypnotic effect the music has on the listener. There´s an organic groove to the music, which is quite effectful and combined with the filthy, dark, and brutal sounding death metal and murky growling vocals, creates images of dank dark caves filled with unspeakable horrors or something in that vein. The whole album reeks a nasty evil atmosphere.

"Onward to Golgotha" is widely considered a classic old school death metal album, and for good reason. Not only is it a good quality death metal release, but it´s also an incredibly influential one, inspiring thousands of artists along the way. The murky, cavernous, and relentlessly brutal death metal style of Incantation was something new in 1992. Incantation used tried and true death metal elements and twisted them into something unheard of at the time and thereby created a new mini-subgenre of death metal. Credit is due and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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