Incapacity
9th Order Extinct
9.2
Ah! Now see, this is what I'm talking about. Old-school vibe with new offerings. Okay, maybe not new, but with well done aspects of a lot of different types of metal. Well, Incapacity is a supergroup that finally lives up to the concept, featuring Andreas Axelsson (Edge of Sanity, Marduk, Infestdead) doing vocals, Robert Ivarsson (Pan-Thy-Monium, Ashes) on guitar, Christian Alvestam (Unmoored, Solar Dawn, Torchbearer) on guitar and backing vocals, Anders Edlund (Solar Dawn) on bass, and Henric Schonstrom (Unmoored, Solar Dawn, Torchbearer) on drums.
It kicks off initially with a 55 second track, giving me the impression that it's just going to be another old school DM throwback album, making me almost vomit my eyes out. The second track, "Grand Future Disease" again gives me the impression that I'm just going to be yawning through another album and then suddenly, I'm hit with a complex melodic lead ala Susperia and a driving beat. But it doesn't stop there. Throughout the entire album, Incapacity attack you with ingenuity you'd be hard pressed to find and equal to.
The guitar reminds me of Entombed both in tone and in the way it's played - almost bordering on rock guitar at times but still being totally heavy. But don't let that description fool you, by no means is this some sort of death-n-roll album. This is some of the most varied and well structured thrash/death I've come across in a while. With a lot of different and flawless drum rhythms going on, nothing seems abrupt or poorly transitioned in the least. They break into these quickly picked interludes that are depressing and almost doomy riffs, like early At The Gates, before breaking back into a real heavy early 90's Swedish sound. Sometimes even a full-on thrash tempo. They incorporate a lot of ringing chords sound while stomach-rumbling riffs crash down over them. The erratic beginning of "A Plague Of Their Own" preludes an incredibly catchy example of the type of deceptively innovative songs Incapacity's capable of writing. The Edge of Sanity shows through in that there's an staggering sense of melody balanced with brutality - forcing old-school death metal together with the more recent melodic sounds of the region.
As I've read reviews of this album on other sites, I've discovered that I seem to be an anomaly as far as how much I'm enjoying this. Maybe Incapacity just caught me in a good mood - but everything on 9th Order Extinct is done so spectacularly. It's completely infectious and just what I needed after the recent influx of old-school Swedish death metal albums. Even if you don't enjoy it as much as I am, I don't think there's a chance in hell that you won't get something out of it.
