Within the cesspool of loud riffs and caveman grunts that make up death metal, there aren't many bands giving thought to forward-looking music. Incantation, after 16 years of headbanging, hasn't created an album with new ideas since their underground club-slumming days. Still incoherently bashing Christ? Check. Still recycling muddy, down-tuned, blown-out guitar structures? Check. There's nothing here that screams "interesting" to people other than Incantation's neck-strained fanatics. The only noticeable feature of Primordial Domination is the interaction of dynamics in tempo. But if you've heard any of Incantation's other records, enormously trotting tempos won't have you breaking down record store doors to grab this. John McEntee's guitar tones may be twisted enough to make ears bleed, but his riffs lack the ball-grabbing attitude to keep you locked in past Cut 1. And since unimaginative riffs usually lead to bland percussion, that's exactly what drummer Kyle Severn delivers. Primordial Domination likely won't win Incantation very many new fans. But after making the same album eight times, it's obvious that they don't give a fuck about that.
Nov. 1 at Modern Exchange, 12219 Dix-Toledo, Southgate; 734-284-2547.
Kent Alexander writes about music for Metro Times. Send comments to [email protected].
