Spawn of Possession - Incurso

Spawn of Possession has been crushing skulls since they released their first demo in 2000. Since then, they’ve become one of the most prominent and respected technical death bands to come out of Europe along with Obscura, Decapitated, and Necrophagist. After hearing their older material, the biggest thing that I can say about Spawn of Possession is that they have grown and matured like no other tech death band has before; and that’s saying a lot because their music was already matured by the time they released their debut full-length. So in exactly one week, they will be releasing their third album that metalheads worldwide have been waiting patiently for. Well guys, let me tell you something, it was worth the damn wait! With the band’s members being extremely busy with their other bands which include Blood Red Throne, Obscura, and Deeds of Flesh, Spawn of Possession has been almost completely unable to work on THEIR music. But now that they’ve taken the time to complete Incurso, they now have something to reward their fans with for waiting so patiently.

Let me start by saying that the intro track is extremely unique in its own way. It starts out by giving you a couple crunchy guitar chords with some drums in the background, making you think that the band decided to skip the fancy intro and jump right into the technical brutality they’re known for. BUT NO! They decided to trick you! Right after those few chords, you’re given a series of dark (but melodic) piano parts, tranquilizing bass riffs, and even the sounds of orchestral string instruments. I can’t remember the last time a band gave me something THIS unexpected (and by that I mean tricking me with those first few crunchy notes). Right after the intro, you’re given the somewhat melodic opening chords of Where Angels Go Demons Follow. Almost instantly, when you feel that you’re going to pass out if they keep throwing unexpected shit at you, an explosion of technical brutality goes off right in your face.

Probably what I like about Incurso more than any other Spawn of Possession album is that you can hear the bass guitar A LOT more. Now let’s put the other albums aside and just look at Incurso by itself. Just take note that I’m NOT being exclusive in ANY way. There seems to be two basic types of technical death bands; there’s the tech death bands that keep most of their technicality in the lower guitar chords and the drums, making it seem much less crazy and chaotic (Decapitated, Fleshgod Apocalypse, etc.). There are also the technical death bands that still have tons of chaos on the lower end (some have more than others), but also have TONS of crazy high-pitched guitar shredding, sometimes referred to as “guitar wankery” (Decrepit Birth, The Faceless, Arsis, Rings of Saturn, etc.). Incurso seems to have something that I haven’t seen in very many other bands before. In this album, Spawn of Possession seem to have a lot of that crazy guitar shredding in the mid-ranges instead of the higher notes (which they still do). But the guitars aren’t hogging all the technicality; the drums and bass are on a path of their own! You hear the bassist going absolutely mad in songs like The Evangelist, No Light Spared, and Servitude of Souls; and the drummer completely losing his control in Bodiless Sleeper.

The vocals in this album are not at all what I would normally expect out of a technical death band. When I say that, I mean like the really complex patters and tempos (if any exist) that the vocals are put out in (listen to Decrepit Birth, The Faceless, and/or Fleshgod if you don’t know what I mean). The vocalist for Spawn of Possession seems to be laying out his vocals in a much more predictable and simple manner that’s much easier to follow and keep up with if one wants to be able to “sing” along. But don’t let that be a downer for those of you that want more complex vocal patterns, because these guys (yet again) have a seemingly unlimited number of surprises up their sleeves. If you don’t know what I’m trying to say, listen to Deus Avertat.

The production work of the album is far beyond my expectations (I hate it when brutal and tech death albums have crappy sound quality). The guitars and drums don’t sound really mushy, so the band sounds even more tight and complex! Although this album is virtually flawless, it’s not quite enough for me to give a perfect score. But don’t make that statement turn you away, because Cabinet squashes, Noctambulant crushes, but Incurso OBLITERATES! I would give this tasty tech death sandwich 19/20.