| CD REVIEW Incassum |
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Band : Incassum Originally formed at Salford (a suburb of Manchester, in the Northwest of the UK) University (with a line-up comprising frontwoman Sharleen Kennedy, guitarists Andrew "Roo" Snowden and Jim Knights, bassist Dave Mullard, and drummer/ backing singer John Curran) in September 2004, Dark Metal quintet Incassum (Latin for "in vain") entered a studio before the end of the year to record their first demo, and then threw itself on the local Manchester club circuit, where they soon attracted attention with their Progressive and Technical yet melodic edge and aggressive female vocals. Throughout 2005 the band started spreading their area of influence over the Northwest of England, even heading across the border to Scotland for a celebrated live appearance (mind you, so tells the bio on myspace, but when I check on the list of gigs played at the band's own website I find no proof of the band playing very far from Manchester at all, and only 3 times that year), before settling down again to write the material for their second demo. Recorded in mid 2006 with Mike Pilate (formerly of Malefice & Collusion, currently playing in The Ocean), new demo I, Destroyer Of Worlds was a consolidation of the band's sound. Around that time Knights decided to leave (he's since joined Nailed), and he was duely replaced by Chris Taylor, a fan and also friend of the band. 2007 and early 2008 has seen Incassum play at their hometown's prestigious Manchester Academy venue (to participate...no, read on to find out!) with the likes of I-def-I, Nailed (both, very coincidentally, Casket/ Copro singed acts), I Remain,and Blood Vigil, as well as gracing again several stages in the Northwest of England [again, according to the band's website the band has played mainly around Manchester (and quite abundantly so when compared to the past, but still rather unfrequently with only 7 gigfs in 2007 and a staggering 23 in 2008 until now) but they díd play a gig in Wales' Aberystwyth and did a weekend trip to Ireland to play gigs in Belfast and Cork). In February-March of this year the band headed into Manchester's MCC Studios with producer Andy Giblin (known from cooperations with Kill II This, I-def-I, Nailed, Profane, Slipknot, Napalm Death and more) to record, mix and master their upcoming mini-album. An rough version of the track "History Repeats" was already put on the band's MySpace page in mid March and then, in late April, the band entered the Surface Unsigned band competition (they would proceed to get into the finals on August 30). In late May, the band was contacted and signed by Casket/ Copro for the release of their mini-album. Which brings us around clockwize to the material at hand: 6 tracks with a total length of something over 30 minutes. The three first songs ("The Beckoning", "History Repeats", and "Space To Breathe")on the album see Sharleen alternating her voice from a somewhat lush one to impressive growls (occasionally backed by her growling male collegue), but "So Red" shows the band from its more vulnerable side with what could be construed as a semi-ballad (at least as far as the intensity of the vocals are concerned with both Sharleen and John remaining in a clean mode throughout – the latter deflecting his voice somewhat to come over more girlish – and an overall calmer first part of the song). For "All These Lies" and the album closing title track, it's back to the alternating vocal methods and guitar aggression of the first three songs. Influences cited by the band include Arch Enemy, Black Sabbath, Emperor, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Lamb Of God, Nightwish, Opeth, and Pantera, but really the band has succeeded in brewing its own signature hybrid out of all that. Wanna check? Surf to myspace.com/incassum to find two songs off the 2006 demo and three off the current mini-album (incidently, the ones listed are the first three on the track-list!) 88/100 Tony. |