2024 marks the rebirth of Incipient Chaos.
After two EPs and a split in ten years, the band comprising I (guitar), II (guitar), III (bass, Malkavian) and V (vocals, VCID) unveil Incipient Chaos, their debut album, released by I, Voidhanger Records.
Drums were recorded by CSR (Ruïm, Thagirion, ex-Death Decline…).
The album kicks off in total chaos with Sever the Oracle, a frantic opening composition joined by visceral howls that quickly create a vortex of devastating darkness in the company of Limbes. The scathing harmonics subside as DSBM influences blossom on the final, but they’re back at full speed on The Apex, where violence once again reigns supreme in the company of ferocious growls only interrupted by a few much more ethereal passages. The last part of the track brings all these elements together to redouble their intensity before giving way to The Fire that Devours the Soul and Flesh, whose initial bewitching quietude is unsurprisingly regularly annihilated in favor of fury and cutting sonorities. Even slower moments become menacing, as on Crumbling Bones, where the wild Old School roots are most exploited, creating interesting visceral accelerations that contrast with the atmospheric approach of other moments. The next track, Ominous Acid, manages to strike a fragile yet majestic balance between all the band’s influences, projecting them at full speed while retaining more ethereal passages. Dragged Back to the Abyss then reveals its dark tones in oppressive melancholy, first with hypnotic slowness, then with renewed fury and a solo by Sebius. The final track, All is Lost & All is Found, promises us ten minutes of progression through the despair and dissonance that grows with our experience, eventually leading to G.‘s solo, and then to complete nothingness.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from Incipient Chaos, but it’s clear that the silence and troubled moments have been more than beneficial to the band, who offer us a monument of darkness with Incipient Chaos!
95/100
