Review Summary: The Incurable Album
The Incurable Tragedy is the fifth release by the Canadian progressive/melodic death metal quintet known as Into Eternity. Through the years, Into Eternity has begun the ascent to notoriety and popularity. Before they get ahead of themselves, Into Eternity has to overcome the disaster sought in
The Incurable Tragedy. Folks, this may take a while to fix.
The basis of
The Incurable Tragedy is the depressing concept of a man dealing with the struggles of cancer. Indeed, you are thinking the same thing; this is an
excellent topic to headbang to. Ugh. Seriously though, any actual emotional impact is taken away when Into Eternity’s obnoxious growls coupled with dense metal riffs take over. The combination of the topic and music flirts with becoming morbidly ironic. After all, I have a hunch that their album will not be featured at any Relay for Life events or on Lance Armstrong’s ‘recently played’ list. Regardless, I will give Into Eternity credit with their attempts to patch their lack of emotion. The quick fix is featured in “The Incurable Tragedy I,” “The Incurable Tragedy II,” and “The Incurable Tragedy III.” Even so, it provides a petty attempt in order appear somewhat emotional with such a technical wankfest of an album.
Musically, a heartbeat begins
The Incurable Tragedy in the splendid acoustical track “Prelude to Woe,” which at the time was a sign of life. After “Prelude to Woe,” the album loses itself. The flow of the album is instantly decimated with following track, “Tides of Blood.” It is the marquee song to start the disjointed riffs and awkward passages exuded in this progressive metal train wreck. Beyond that, tracks sound like slight rip-offs of one another like the intros of “Diagnosis Terminal” and “Tides of the Blood.” The small technicalities like that are what make Into Eternity such an enigma with their songwriting. One major quirk is headache resonating from the double bass. My mind was racing trying to piece together every musical segment and trying to make sense of it all, but in the end, it never stuck together. The only cohesive unit is found in “The Incurable Tragedy” series of songs that are decent, but a tad forced trying to produce that ‘epic’ ballad sound. Then there are the vocals...
Among harmonies, growls, and screams found in
The Incurable Tragedy, I am not impressed by any style utilized. Mikael Akerfeldt, of Opeth fame, sounds like a vocal God in comparison. It is hard to describe the horror heard on
The Incurable Tragedy, but it is cringe-worthy. The growls sound like any ordinary high school death metal singer, the higher-pitched screams are witch-like, and the harmonies become boring after the third song. It is a total and complete vocal travesty.
Into Eternity’s vapid release,
The Incurable Tragedy, fails on so many different levels that it really is not worth talking about. I can confidently say
The Incurable Tragedy has been the worst listening experience this year. Between the pseudo-epic songs and poorly executed concept, the album is a grave disappointment. Hey, maybe their luck will turn the sixth time around.
