Onward To Golgotha is a monolithic album. Not in the sense that it’s particularly lengthy or emotional but that it is just flat-out heavy, with muffled riffs that make for impressive fodder on which the sheer power of this album just piles up. The sporadic, almost random guitar solos tear away from the mash of distorted chords and chugging rhythms and usher in a sense of chaotic urgency which often makes its way back into the verse riffs. Indeed, this tendency for the riffs to go from a virtual crawl to a breakneck, albeit slick groove is a wonderful virtue that can be directly attributed to the songwriting ability of Incantation to write memorable death metal songs while not being terribly progressive. To be honest, given the quality of
Onward To Golgotha, I don’t really want anything besides the onslaught of high-quality death metal that is displayed here.
Standing alongside Suffocation and Immolation at the forefront of the New York death metal scene, Incantation have a knack for creating, through a combination of musicianship, atmosphere, and songwriting, an unrelenting album in terms of heaviness, but also a memorable one that will leave you craving more. The guttural vocals are, quite simply, a perfect match for the grinding guitars and the low-end plucking of the bass, creating a sinister aura about the album which helps drive home just how smooth everything is on
Onward To Golgotha. The transitions are fluid and barely noticeable, but prevalent enough that the music never becomes stagnant, because before a riff has had enough time to overstay its welcome, another equally impressive one is brought in or the guitars break out into one of the many short but excellent solos. It’s this constant shifting which makes the album as impressive as it is, because the staggering number of awesome riffs present here keeps you biting at the chain for the next one to work its way into the picture. Whether it’s the plodding drum beats backing a resonating chain of chords like in “Unholy Massacre” or the frantic vocals in “Golgotha” that mask the frantic picking of the guitars and bass, every song has something noteworthy to offer.
A brilliant album in its own right, and easily one of the best releases out of the New York death metal scene,
Onward To Golgotha is an album any death metal fan knows and loves. It’s Incantation at their very finest, putting on a show of impressive death metal that neither disappoints nor relents. For the entire running time, the album is just a wall of violent guitar riffs and truly awesome vocals. The dense, heavy atmosphere is rife with excellent performances from each instrument, and the songwriting leaves behind a full album of enjoyable songs. While not complete perfection or particularly innovative,
Onward To Golgotha is a must-hear for anyone who wants to listen to quality death metal that delivers on everything an album in this vein could promise.
