INCANTATION ‎– Profane Nexus / VINYL LP

After nearly three decades, it would be something of a stretch to expect a veteran act like Incantation to suddenly experiment. As such, Profane Nexus sounds exactly like you’d imagine, and that’s fine with me. These are the types of pitches you judge qualitatively, not by a propensity for transient genre play; after all, this is death metal, and it just wants to feed. “Muse” hooks the album and manages to be haunting and absolutely crushing, echoing the band’s predilection for bipolar tempos. Next up, “Rites of the Locust” is signature stuff: sweeping rhythms, dissonant leads, and a vortex of cutting tremolos making up one of founder John McEntee’s best creations. While I always felt his growl leaned a little toward the indistinct, his vocal performance here is suitably beastly and serves to complement his insistent, sanity-raiding riffs.