There are two types of death metal fans: those who love Incantation and pussies. Luckily for us most of the kids who don't accept
Onwards to Golgotha as probably the best thing they will ever hear are at Behemoth or Fleshgod Apocalypse shows and are easily avoided. Now, a large portion these old school death metal revival bands right now have basically figured out the formula. Copy Incantation and even if you're only half as good it's still pretty good. There has been such an influx of bands ripping off Incantation circa 1990 that most of them are being jokingly referred to as "caverncore", which regardless of whether or not the tag was made out of love or spite is still pretty fucking hilarious.
Denmark's Mold fall somewhere right smack dab in the middle of this caverncore sound. The good part is that they're actually pretty damn good. Try to imagine if acts like Antedeluvian and Portal sounded a little less like themselves and a little more like Incantation and that's pretty close to what Mold's demo,
Cremated Alive, sounds like. The riffs are pure Incantation with a production job that gives the demo this looming, almost indecipherable murk that lets the four included tracks color a bit outside of the lines of the patented Incantation formula. This is highlighted in the multiple sections that pop up through the demo's 15 minute that don’t really sound like they should be on an Incantation record, which ultimately makes Mold's second offering a worthwhile investment of time in the murky seas of Incantation worship.
Cremated Alive probably won't catch your fancy if you really aren't hugely into the old school death metal movement. Mold is going straight for the "we recorded this in my mom's basement in 1988" sound that makes the casual listener turn up his nose and put back on his remastered version of
Human in disgust. Regardless, if you like Incantation, and you like filthy old school death metal, and you never get tired of listening to demo tapes then this shit is right up your alley.
