Album Review! SPAWN OF POSSESSION – Incurso

When the music starts, it’s a quick tease of heaviness then an epic introduction that reminds me of the Mako Reactor soundtrack from Final Fantasy 7 when you first start the game. When that is done, it’s straight into technical death metal greatness. Spawn of Possession are rather new to me, I’ve never really listened to them before. When they released a single of theirs about a month ago I was swept off of my feet and highly anticipating the release of their album, “Incurso“. Well now it’s here: the first thing you notice is the art. The album art is fucking nuts, I don’t know what that floating thing is but it looks like is has nothing but bad intentions for that dude and the entire world.

Back to the music, you have some of the most exciting and creative song writing since Necrophagist’sEpitaph“. The riffs are very technical and melodic at the same time and somehow amidst all of that chaos they hold down a very tight rhythmic pattern that is unlike anything I’ve previously heard. Bass guitar has unique patterns and leads as well and what I love about the bass guitar is the fact it’s pretty audible. It’s not overwhelming or behind the drums, it’s perfectly blended with the music. The drums…..I bet drummer Henrik Schönström must put WD-40 on his joints after performing each song because his intensity, speed and savagery is just pushing the limits as to what can be done by a human being on that kit. Vocals are mainly low with some mid-range screaming in there. He does this thing that many tech death bands do and that’s grunt 10,000 words a minute. Growling out words as fast as the double bass drum is going. The band as a whole has created one hell of an album and if you enjoy technical death metal, you’re in for a treat.

Continue reading

Fretboard Friday on a Saturday morning! BLOTTED SCIENCE & SCALE THE SUMMIT

Here is the great track “Cretaceous Chasm” played by Ron Jarzombek from Blotted Science entirely with some awesome information on how systematically this track is played.

Next up are the gentlemen from Scale The Summit playing their track “The Levitated“.

MORE THINGS THAT KICKED ASS IN 2011

Here is some more greatness of 2011. More personal opinions that hardly matter but I feel as though they should be shared. Here are some more “best of 2011″ mini-lists. An award ceremony if you will. Except there are no awards. The only award is us listening to them and their music.

BEST EP

1 – ††† (Crosses)- †

2 – DeadfallNew Light

3 – ImmolationProvidence

~

BEST RIFFS

 1 – Amon AmarthSurtur Rising

2 – CrowbarSever The Wicked Hand

3 – Woods of YpresWoods IV

~

BEST BASSIST

1 – Dominic “Forest” Lapointe of Beyond Creation

2 – Chris Corey of Last Chance To Reason

3 – Alex Webster of Blotted Science

~

BEST LEAD GUITARIST

1 – David Davidson of Revocation

2 – Simon Girard and Kevin Chartre of Beyond Creation

3 – Johan Söderberg and Olavi Mikkonen of Amon Amarth

~

BEST DRUMMER

1 – Francesco Paoli of Fleshgod Apocalypse

 2 – Jade Simonetto of Hate Eternal

3 – Phil Dubois-Coyne of Revocation

~

BEST SINGER (CLEAN VOCALS)

1 – Michael Lessard of Last Chance To Reason

2 – Joseph E. Martinez of Junius

3 – Chelsea Wolfe

~

BEST VOCALS

 1 – Simon Girard of Beyond Creation

2 – Erik Rutan of Hate Eternal

3 – Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth

~

BEST ALBUM COVER

Revocation – Chaos of Forms

~

BEST INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM/EP

1 – Scale The Summit – The Collective

2 – Russian CirclesEmpros

3 – Blotted ScienceThe Animation of Entomology

Qreview! Blotted Science – The Animation Of Entomology EP

Great bass work, phenomenal drumming and guitar playing that will make you go cross eyed, Blotted Science comes back with an EP of amazing musicianship. Technical death metal is always done right when Blotted Science does it and this EP makes that statement true. I played this album at work and it won over an employee of mine who doesn’t even listen to this kind of music, he loved the way it sounded. Sometimes things get so crazy I can’t help but think that it belongs in a video game; Super Metroid, Castlevania, Megaman and Contra comes to mind. At times the music made me feel like I was stuck in a wasp nest, the album reminded me of that old song “Flight of the Bumble Bee” too…the album art also doesn’t help that fluttering bug feeling.

The tracks are fun to listen to and have great musicianship…however the songs are not really grabbing me like I’d hoped. Yes I did have fun listening to this album each time I heard it….but I have no real desire to keep listening to it. Some parts are brilliant…the rest is just there. To cater to their fanbase and tech-death nerds.

The EP is fantastic but I am good after a few listens. I liked the album a lot and respect their work. I just neither loved it nor hated it.

Pros: Holy shit you can do that on a guitar? Drumming is freaking mindblowing and bass is played well.

Cons: After a few listens…you get the point. Nothing too special.

3 out of 5