Acclaimed veteran death metallers Incantation prepare the masses for their 13th album, Unholy Deification, via Relapse Records. Edified over three-plus decades of experience and validated by peers seasoned and new, Incantation are more vital than ever. The lineup, featuring founding member/guitarist/vocalist John McEntee, longtime drummer Kyle Severn, bassist/lyricist Chuck Sherwood, and guitarist Luke Shively, embodies pure death metal know-how and the power of determination. This is proven by new tracks “Concordat (The Pact) I,” “Homunculus (Spirit Made Flesh) IX,” and “Invocation (Chthonic Merge) X,” all of which feature Incantation’s trademark barbarism and astutely evil lyrics.
Incantation started in the urban jungle of New Jersey/New York in 1989. McEntee and former co-founder Paul Ledney (now Profanatica/Havohej) expressed death metal via simple maxims-brutality and depravity. Inspired by Possessed, Necrophagia, Celtic Frost, and many others, Incantation made a name for themselves throughout the Northeast. Debut EP, Entrantment of Evil (1991), and subsequent debut full-length Onward to Golgotha (1992) resonated strongly with and poisoned pervasively legions of impressionable minds regionally and eventually globally. Now spread across several states-North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania-Incantation hold fast to their reputation as a leading light of American death metal. Indeed, their significance endures in the collective cruelty of Unholy Deification.