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A solid effort with varying atmosphere and awkward batches of silence.-
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| Incursus: Eternal Funeral Trance |
Raw Black Metal
Forever Plagued Records
August 20th, 2009
- Intro - 1:35
- A Ravenous Despair - 4:32
- When Death Enthrones Our Darkness - 6:21
- Phantasmagoria - 5:00
- Evil Comes Forth - 5:47
- Venka - 5:31
- He of Knighted Death - 3:38
- From My Subconscious Throne - 5:09
- As One As Nothing - 8:05
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| Review Information |
Release length: 45:37
Review posted on June 8th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 8.5/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Eternal Funeral Trance (2009)
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| EP(s): |
Incursus (2005)
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| Review |
Incursus is another one of those underground Black Metal bands that seems to remain hidden from the world, as if only existing in the darkest shadows. This United States Black Metal act issued their debut EP through Forever Plagued Records way back in 2005, and it took the group four more years to issue their first full-length recording, Eternal Funeral Trance, through the same label. But, does this recording really have what it takes to stand out in the underground, or will it, like the band's identities, remain hidden in the shadows for quite some time?
One of the main points to this release stems from the production quality. While many underground bands and labels that issue Black Metal releases, or focus strongly on that style, typically have the state of mind that the rawer the production, the better the atmosphere. This isn't always the case, and actually proves that point well. Yes, the album is still on the raw side, but it's still a rather modern-sounding rawness that makes the music and vocals clear enough to make an impact, and often allows you to make out the lyrics, which is also a nice touch rarely seen in the more aggressive styles like Black Metal and Death Metal. The vocal range is nice as well, having a very strong and sinister rhaspy wailing to a deep guttural performance. The music performed here is mostly a traditional haunting modern-sounding Black Metal approach that stems from some of the more melancholic mid-second generation acts, and blast beats are utilized throughout the recording, but mostly with moderation. The haunting sound of the echoes on the vocals make them sound a little more intimidating, and overall the whole recording itself sounds very melancholic and grim, as well as brings in a cold bite to the aggressively dark passages that follow the very suiting "Intro", a haunting piano piece with some extra ambience that sets up the mood of the album perfectly, though it is clearly cut off a bit prematurely, leaving the abrupt silence between it and "A Ravenous Despair" to feel a little awkward.
There are plenty of fantastic atmosphere-rich tracks on this recording, and the album starts off great with the "Intro" track provided, while "A Ravenous Despair" does a nice job retaining that chilling vibe. The song itself feels a bit more aggressive, and at times will lose that melancholic vibe. This track also has a weird cut into silence near the end of the song, as it naturally progresses to it's end, but then starts back up with a closing that feels like it's the next track entirely, only to come to another natural sounding end. And then there's "When Death Enthrones Our Darkness", which really is where the album takes off, and slow down with having these awkward pauses in the music, though not completely stopping them. The song is somewhat aggressive, though really focuses in on that haunting and melancholic atmosphere that started the album off. The track does include blast beats at appropriate times, and while there is a larger amount of them here then any other track, the band does show a good deal of restraint from utilizing them more then necessary, as well as manages to transition in and out of them nicely to make their impact strong, but fluid to the progression of the track.
Much of Eternal Funeral Trance seems to vary between the aggressive and melancholic atmospheres with each track. "Evil Comes Forth" happens right after two songs that have that more melancholic approach to the atmosphere, and it brings a much more sinister sound through some very aggressive Black Metal thanks to it's general speed, razor-like music that cuts away at the listener, and the overall intensity. The only flaw to the more aggressive tracks is that they don't quite catch the listener in the same way, as the allure of atmospherically driven music gives way to simply crushing music that just feels menacing, but nothing else really driving it along to cause it to stand out. These tracks also seem to be the prime candidates for the awkward and oddly placed moments of silence during the song, as this track, much like "A Ravenous Despair", comes to a close that sounds natural, but this time instead of hammering back in again like "A Ravenous Despair", it slowly builds back up, leaving the song to carry on as if it never truly ended.
The primal fury and aggression, as well as melancholic sounds of this release really make it an enjoyable album from start to finish with no real lack in effort and energy in the actual songs. However, the band decided to include an instrumental track into the mix, and it's sheer length poses a problem. This strictly Ambient piece named "Venka" becomes more like an interlude for the release. The track is hard to describe, but sounds like something you would hear in a film when the characters cross into a dark dimension, or during the title screen of certain horror films thanks to the rumbling sound effects and random chains and squeels in the background, as if something out of the Hellraiser series. This lasts for a solid five and a half minutes, and while it seems like it's meant more to put the listener in some sort of darkened trance, it just doesn't work out to well, especially when the really loud gong sound chimes in out of nowhere about half way through the track. Again, sadly, just like with the "Intro", this song abruptly cuts out, and we're greeted with a few brief moments of silence before "He of Knighted Death" kicks in with it's furious pace, and much shorter track length of just over three and a half minutes. This song, however, does feature another abrupt moment of silence not too long after it started, which obviously sounds like it's meant to be there, but for some reason the audio was just cut before the audio could just ring out to silence, such as with the cymbols, and the audio itself sounds completely different, lacking that white noise of the raw production that accompanies the songs, and sound much more silent in comparison, coming off specifically as silence from dead air through studio editing.
From start to finish, this album is full of well executed Black Meta. From sharp aggressive music to haunting melancholic atmospheres, there's a good amount of variety to the release. However, that becomes one of the problems. One minute you're greeted with intense music that feeds the hidden sinister side of your soul, and the next minute the mood shifts to a grim atmosphere of illness and death, though the band obviously was trying to reach a more melancholic sound on each song overall. Aside the lack of a consistant atmosphere, there's a good deal of problems with the audio cutting out, or just awkwardly going to silence for a few seconds mid song, and often coming back as if it's a whole other song, when it's actually the genuine end of the song. These issues are a bit irritating and misleading at best, but overall don't affect the outcome to the point where anything is ruined, though due to these gabs of silence it helps to pay attention to the tracks so you are not left scratched your head about a sudden change or very short song. Overall, Eternal Funeral Trance by Incursus is a well done raw Black Metal effort that fans of the style should take notice of.
| UPDATE: A note from the label |
Shortly after this review went live, I received an e-mail from Forever Plagued Records pointing out my attention to detail, and the noting about the silence in the CD I paid particular attention to. Sadly, I assumed the physical promo was the final product, but it apparently was not. Whether this was an oversight on my part, or the information was never presented, the review is posted, and I have a strict rule of not altering my reviews. Ever. So, to present both sides fairly, I am including the information uncut directly from my e-mail for you.
"I feel I must bring this to your attention since some of your readers may be confused by your remarks to the silences that are on your promo copy of Incursus. Actually this was a mistake on my part when preparing the original master but it was corrected for the actual CD people are purchasing. I am using the faulty cds as promos which is why yours has the silences between the tracks. Which brings me back to your strong attention to detail, that you knew it sounded wrong and it does because the album is meant to go right into each track from each track etc. So basically you knew that without hearing the actual corrected CD. Anyway I don't mind but I felt that it was my duty to bring that to your attention since you mention it in so many times in the review that it might be good to make a note that its only on the promo copy you received. The promo cds are mainly to show the reviewer the songs themselves and not the way the album is to be laid out as a whole. Plus it gave us something to use 1000 faulty discs for lol."
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Physical review copy of this release provided by:
Forever Plagued Records.
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