Vanquish In Vengeance

As consistent as they'd been throughout a storied and prolific death metal career, Pennsylvania's one and only Incantation clearly benefited from taking an extended break following the release of 2006's frankly unspectacular Primordial Domination. Heck, their devoted fans probably benefited as well, and while the band couldn't just sit at home, entirely still, issuing a series of isolated singles during the interim, 2012's Vanquish in Vengeance bears an air of reinvigorated, refreshed commitment. Don't worry now; the album is as sonically devastating and foul-smelling as you please, thanks to one of the best production jobs — simultaneously clean and bludgeoning — of the band's long discography. Don't forget; there's not much room for being cute here — Incantation have always attracted a rather specific segment of death metal fans who, like the band, are by and large resistant to intra-genre crossover or undue experimentation beyond the style's founding tenets, no matter if this should sometimes limit the band's ability to evolve and prosper commercially. In sum, whether it shows Incantation blasting away on all cylinders ("Invoked Inifinity," "From Hollow Sands"), grinding out slow-churning treatises of self-inflicted torment ("Transcend into Absolute Dissolution," "Profound Loathing"), or, more often than not, combinations of the two ("Progeny of Tyranny," "The Hellions Genesis"), Vanquish in Vengeance is never anything short of devastating. Heck, indulging in a few, more distended respites like the atmospheric midsection of "Ascend into the Eternal" and the preternaturally majestic harmonies of "Haruspex" is about as "cute" as the album gets (or this review — Incantation and "cute" not having anything in common). But then, that's the way it is and no true-blooded Incantation fans would desire for anything but Vanquish in Vengeance's full-bore intensity from the object of their masochistic affections.