Phonebook Eater 5/10

"Incurso" throws at the listener so many things at once, that none of them end up giving an impact.

Spawn of Possession are a Swedish Technical Death Metal that over the years have been gaining an increase in popularity. But with “Incurso” the band reaches the attention they never really had: they now are generally extremely well respected among Death Metal enthusiasts. This third album of theirs, “Incurso” is being somewhat praised by Metal fans, not really for the songwriting but more for the amazing technical aspects.

Like the vast majority of modern Technical Death Metal, “Incurso” has no sense of melody whatsoever: everything is focused on are flashy guitar riffs, extremely fast-paced and complex rhythms, everlastingly changing hooks. But the thing about Spawn Of Possession is that in their music these technicalities are done extremely well: each and all of these musicians play like musical demons, especially the drummer, Henrik Schonstrom, who many times delivers truly amazing fills. The bass played by Erlend Caspersen is wild and virtuous as well, with all of it’s slappings and slidings. Of course the music is very hard to follow because of all the things that are coming and going at once, and that is one of the main problems I seem to have concerning modern Technical Death Metal.

The lyrics, like many Death Metal lyrics of the early days, are graphic and violent. But what makes them especially gruesome is that most of them are stories: some include hints to necrophilia (“Bodiless Sleeper”), possession and Satanism (“Deus Avertat”), demonic raping and futile revenge (“Spiritual Deception”), sadistic surgeons (“Servitude Of Souls”). But the most twisted story of all is possibly the explicit one narrated in “The Evangelist”, where a man remembers being dialy raped by a priest, and finds out, sitting next to his sickly mother, that she too was daily raped by the same priest and that the protagonist is actually the son of the priest.

The album as a whole, because of it’s style, is one that drags on and on, and since there are no sort of melodies or stand-out moments, it feels like a huge, lengthy song that never ends. This impression is strengthened even more with the fact that all of the songs use pretty much the same formulas, almost never there are any moments that somehow differ from the rest. A slight exception is the last track, “Apparition”, where there is much more instrumentation--mostly orchestral--, a slower passage, and an overall more varied feel. But the rest of the tracks, even though they are constantly changing hooks and rhythms, feel monotonous anyhow, which is the last thing that should happen in this kind of music.

“Incurso” has an excellent production, amazing musicianship, and disturbing themes in the lyrics, but there is no natural flow from song to song: no matter how flashy everything is, there are really few moments worth remembering. But maybe this is just me.

J-Man If you've been blown away by the killer technical death metal from newer bands like Obscura or Abysmal Dawn, Relapse Records now has another band on their roster to satisfy that itch for brutal, semi-melodic, and inhumanly technical death metal. Enter Spawn of Possession, a Swedish five-piece that has made their major label debut, and third album overall, with the masterful Incurso. I was, ashamedly, unfamiliar with these Swedes before a promotional copy of this album rolled into my inbox, but 'better late than never' certainly applies here. Incurso is Spawn of Possession's first album since 2006's Noctambulant, and although there have been a few lineup changes over the past five-plus years, the band's technical-edged extreme metal sound remains fully in-tact.

Technical death metal is known by most people as a genre focused on blinding guitar leads, frantic drum patterns, and brutally challenging composition styles, and while this all certainly applies to Spawn of Possession, they take the dizzying sound of technical death metal and showcase the genre at its highest potential. Very much like their labelmates in Obscura, Spawn of Possession is not afraid to sneak some memorable hooks into their otherwise punishing tech-death sound, and I think this versatility and modern-sounding approach in terms of songwriting is what sets Spawn of Possession apart from the hordes of bands that are still trying to relive the classic days of Cryptopsy, Atheist, and Death. Incurso shows the result of a forward-thinking, talented band taking the very best of technical death metal and updating it for the modern age.

After the ominous intro in the form of "Abodement", the band dives head-first into brutal, technical death metal in "Where Angels Go Demons Follow". For the most part, technical death metal is the name of the game throughout Incurso, but frequent changes within riff structures, a monstrous rhythm section, and rather dynamic songwriting keeps the album from ever feeling one-dimensional. The copious amounts of keyboards in "Apparition" even brings 2011's Agony from Fleshgod Apocalypse to mind, with its symphonic flirtations over-top of brutal tech-death working like a charm.

With the musicianship also remaining impeccable across the board (I especially have to give a nod to Henrik Schönström - few drummers manage to kill my self esteem as much as this guy!), it's really tough to find any complaints when we're talking about a technical death metal album of this caliber. Incurso secures Spawn of Possession's place among the elite modern tech-death acts, and I'd recommend this within a heartbeat to anyone who enjoys music from the likes of Obscura, Abysmal Dawn, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Atheist, or late-period Death. In short, Incurso is a modern death metal masterpiece and a landmark album for extreme metal in 2012 - don't miss it!