Review Summary: Incantation continuing to do what they do best.
Incantation have been going strong for over 2 decades now. It just seems as though every couple of years the men of Incantation release quality old-school death/doom metal. Much like bands such as Immolation, Autopsy, and Gorguts, the years keep going by and the quality never disperses. Has the formula ever really changed since the release of the classic debut
Onward to Golgotha? The answer is no, it really hasn't. Yet that never really matters because you're getting quality material year after year. So does the lack of "originality" make the band's 4th album,
The Infernal Storm, any less enjoyable? Once again the answer is no.
Obviously most death metal fans hail this band's first 3 albums to be some of the best death metal albums ever made. And they're absolutely right, they are some of the best. However it also seems that the rest of Incantation's discography gets kind of lost in the mix. This album for example gives you exactly what these guys are best at. Earth shattering death metal mixed with painful, skull crushing doom metal, both of which the band excel at. Incantation are, and always have been, very good at switching up the tempo throughout a single track and that's what you get for the duration of
The Infernal Storm. They can go from pummeling, riff heavy death metal to the slow/mid-paced, yet still brutal sound of doom metal within seconds.
The overall message I'm trying to get across is that Incantation are masters of consistency. Just because a lot of their albums don't get talked about as much doesn't mean you shouldn't check them out and this album is a perfect example of that. Sure it might not be as classic as the first 3 albums, but it continues Incantation's formula of bringing hell to earth, or compact disc/record rather. If you're a fan of Incantation or an old-school death metal fan in general and you haven't heard this, you're missing out.
