siLLy puPPy While INQUISITION formed in 1989 as a thrash band in Cali, Colombia sounding more like Sodom and Kreator, frontman Dagon felt the thrash world had gotten stagnant and found the black metal scene more to the style of his liking. While the band released the “Anxious Death” EP in 1990 while still in Colombia, the band which consisted of Dagon (vocals, guitars), Cesar Santa (bass) and John Santa (drums) completely changed from the trash metal sound on that EP and veered towards a black metal sound influenced by early Bathory, Burzum, Immortal and the Polish black metal scene once Dagon relocated to Seatlle, WA in the USA where they would finally release the second EP titled INCENSE OF REST.

INCENSE OF REST is only a nineteen minute EP that consists of five tracks and serves as a transition album of sorts between the pure thrash years and the more familiar black metal style that would gel on the debut full-length release “Into the Infernal Regions of the Ancient Cult” Despite the cheesy synth-laden intro, the EP bursts into lo-fi black metal fairly quickly however at this point a couple things remain from the past. Firstly the riffing if more akin to thrash albeit darkened and more evil sounding and secondly Dagon’s vocals hadn’t yet taken on the more familiar croaking sound but rather take on various personas ranging from a deep raspiness, to a high pitched raspy scream as well as a few clean vocals strewn about.

The harsh thrash leanings are most prevalent on “Encounter In The Deep Shadows” with the chugga chug riffing but the atmospheres are definitely darkened and heading into the black metal turf as this track displays a rather cheesy sounding keyboard tag along. After moving to the US, the band basically become a duo with Dagon handling guitars, bass and vocals and John Santa on drums. “Visions Of The Pagan Lord” take a more early Nokturnal Mortem approach with introductory synth lines but are fairly brief before it turns into lo-fi black metal with thrash leanings.

The strangest track on board is the closing instrumental “Meditation Before The Kill” which implements clean guitars and a flute which sounds more like a new age album of some sort and doesn’t fit in at all. While not a perfect specimen of the black metal scene by any means, INCENSE OF REST is a decent slice of raw thrash infused black metal with all the lo-fi demeanor one could hope for and except for the silly instrumental closer shows INQUISITION inching closer to the classic sound that would take the underground metal world by storm in a couple years. Dagon had a hard time keeping bassists and it was at this point where the they simply carried on without one and hired a session musician whenever needed.