Review Summary: The song remains the same, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Sometimes an artist's impact, and his relevance in the development of a movement or style, is only fully felt years after the release of his work. Vincent Van Gogh is the supreme example that comes to mind. In the music realm, namely in Heavy Metal, bands such as Bathory or Incantation can be seen in the same way. The former becoming the main aesthetic reference for the second wave of black metal, which would emerge in the early nineties, the latter becoming the utmost influence for countless cavern death metallers, who later tried to mimic the aesthetics of the band's first three albums. I would even dare to say that, nowadays, the influence of Incantation in death metal rivals that of monsters of the genre, such as Death, Morbid Angel or Entombed. Anyone like me who followed the band's shy beginnings cannot help but be surprised.
The band's signature, combining ferocity, doom and filth, has become one of the most distinctive and most cloned trademarks in death metal's ecosystem over the past twenty years. One of its main characteristics is its immutability, that is to say, the will to remain essentially faithful to its origins. In this sense, we know perfectly well what awaits us in each Incantation release, leaving only minor details to be unveiled, such as whether the production will be more or less filthy or whether the album will have a greater doom approach.
In Incantation, reliability is a virtue.
As a fan of last decade's three albums, I longed for
Sect of Vile Divinities to be a vehicle of continuity. Basically, an extension of the stability McEntee & Co have encountered since
Vanquish in Vengeance, something I would call maturity. The fact that the structural line-up stabilized with Chuck Sherwood's arrival was also an important driver for the band's further consolidation in recent years. And
Sect of Vile Divinities mirrors that same continuity.
As expected, the band does not introduce any stylistic novelties, as a matter of fact, we sometimes experience an excessive recycling of ideas. But as I mentioned before, this recycling exists since
The Infernal Storm, and therefore should be taken lightly. The renowned formula, that blends ferocity, doom and filth, remains unchanged, yet with a hygienic approach similar to
Profane Nexus, namely through its polished production. Whether on most intense songs like 'Ritual Impurity (Seven of the Sky is One)', 'Guardians from the Primeval' or 'Chant of Formless Dread', or on doomer tracks such as ' Ignis Fatuus' and 'Scribes of the Stygian', McEntee & Co never venture into overly rough territory, on the contrary, the music always conveys some restraint and maturity. I appreciate this polished, restrained approach, however the more troubled souls may find this aesthetic too hygienic for the band's early standards. Tracks like 'Propitiation' and 'Entrails of the Hag Queen' share some complicity in their doom signatures, with the former presenting one of the album's most distinctive harmonies and a finger tapping in the vein of 'Dirges of Elysium'. Nevertheless, it is in 'Unborn Ambrosia' that we find the finest doom section, immediately after its Reign in Blood-esque drumming moment. Despite its overall consistency, I would argue that songs like 'Shadow-Blade Masters of Tempest and Maelstrom' or 'Black Fathom's Fire' are the ones that best reflect the band's and album's DNA, the latter even being my favorite track. McEntee's guitar and vocals keep the same filthy personality, thus respecting his legacy and identity, yet the ever-consistent performance of his loyal fellow drummer Kyle Severn also deserves to be highlighted. His work, always for the benefit of the song, is both essential and indispensable, firmly ensuring the solid foundations that sustain the band's music. The symbiosis between McEntee and Kyle is absolute.
Essentially,
Sect of Vile Divinities is a vehicle of continuity framed within Incantation's most recent aesthetics. It carries the heavy legacy of a band that proudly strives to be true to itself and to its story. One can safely say that the song remains the same, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
