Review by Alex Grindor on March 26, 2021.

Brazilian/German quartet Incarceration shall spawn their newest release Empiricism next month, and while short, it will delight fans of old-school death metal.

With a bass intro that goes in crescendo to next turn into bombastic death riffage, we are presented with this small, but superb work by Incarceration. ‘Chthonic Pulse’, the first track, goes full blast with furious guitars, heavy bass, frenzied drumming and piercing vocals once the intro is over. An aspect that I was surprised about were the vocals as they are not the average death growl, but rather a despaired, anguished scream reminiscent of someone who has seen the eldritch horrors from beyond. Not something I expected, but it was great nonetheless.

The entire EP (while short), is quite fast in its delivery. Dark, furious riffs coupled with unending blast beats are what constitute the core of this record, while being varied in its composition. Leads are tossed around in every track, for additional melody and much needed respite from the assault that is Empiricism. Production-wise, it approaches the rawness typical of most black metal recordings, but without going too far into it so as to keep it grounded in death metal. I kinda like this approach, especially for this type of old-school death metal. It reminds me of Repugnant, but without the overuse of reverb (the only use of reverb here is in the drums).

With a bit over 20 minutes of length, this 4-track EP shall leave a good taste in mouth for fans of Repugnant, Repulsion, old Sepultura, and similar bands. Some riffs might be a bit repetitive at moments, the production may not be of your liking and the vocals may not be as you expected, but overall it is a great dose of old-school death metal and you should not miss its April release.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Krys on June 8, 2002.

Are the guys starting to run short on testosterone or are we witnesses of a new trend? Woman in death metal - this might be the topic for an interesting article. Immemorial joins the ever-growing list of metal bands where females, in this case Marta Meger, are the uncharacteristic protagonists behind the growls and any other ‘typically’ none feminists sounds.

While we are on the topic of trends, Immemorial also joins an impressive list of quality metal acts hailing from the small Eastern European country of Poland. After so many years of domination by Vader it seems like the time has come for another young artist to invade the rest of the world. With already established names like Behemoth, Decapitated, Lux Occulta and Lost Soul, Immemorial are on their way to make a name outside Poland.

Mixing death metal with black and adding subtle melodic lines; Immemorial create a very interesting cocktail of death metal. Immemorial flawlessly go from a fierce, disharmonic wall of sound and blast beats to melodic parts with well-bred guitar hooks without loosing the intense atmosphere. Although this technically good quintet surprises the listener with maturity and already impressive song writing abilities, “Monologue” might seem a little monotonous due to the single-barreled vocal style used by Marta. Nothing against this woman who growls like a madman, but more articulated singing experiments would put Immemorial one level higher and add even more diversity and excitement to an already gratifying composition.

Much like on Arch Enemy’s “Wages of Sin” (Angela Gossow), for all non-believers that those growls actually come from a woman; the video of ‘A Nightmare’ was added as a bonus track. Considering “Monologue” is the band’s debut it is very well produced and edited.

Bottom Line: Definitely band to keep an eye on. There’s no doubt in my mind that we are witnesses of a birth of what might be a something very special.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.4 out of 10