Chaos Inception: The Abrogation (2012)

Alabama Brutality

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

I had not heard of this band before, so I did some checking before I listened to the album. When I discovered that Quinta Essentia madman guitarist Matt Barnes also performed the guitar work for Chaos Inception, I knew I was going to enjoy it.

Chaos Inception bears a strong resemblance to Quinta Essentia in that the band is not simply a middling death metal band. There is a lot of substance here, some real progressive song structures with complex riffing and a real organic foundation. This is not stale, modernized death metal focused solely on providing a brutal experience. Chaos Inception has the occult and doom-laden sound of an early Morbid Angel. Their sound is like a Lovecraftian beast, horrendous and otherworldly.

Ectovoid: Fractured in the Timeless Abyss (2012)

Use as Directed

Prolia is a drug used to treat osteoporosis. It's administered by injection, every six months. Where menopausal women might need their Prolia, I need my Incantation. Every six months or so, I need a new Onward to Golgotha. The biggest difference is, the old ladies take Prolia to keep their bones from breaking. I need Incantation for just the opposite.

Ectovoid's Fractured in the Timeless Abyss was just what the doctor ordered. The Alabama band engages in nothing but shameless Incantation worship, and that's just fine by me. When I was hearing another one of these every month, I was OD-ing, so I cut back. But even the mighty Disma could only tide me over for so long.

Last Transgression: Cynic Verses (2011)

Clearing the Docket

My spam filter nearly thwarted vocalist/guitarist Terry's attempt to submit Last Transgression's album Cynic Verses to me, but by odd chance I happened to be looking for something else in my spam folder. A lucky circumstance.

The Alabama band has been around since 1994, and have released prior albums in 1995, 1997, and 2002. But you'd never guess they've been around that long by listening to the record, which is almost purely modern death metal. Other than a short, dirty solo in album closer "Six Smiles Revolving", it's a relatively clean blend of modern death metal (not unlike Hail of Bullets) with some technical tendencies (a la Decapitated).