Incantation - Blasphemous Cremation
Review: According to lore, this recording was made before Onward to Golgotha and erased from the master tapes. Judging by the sound of this CD, someone preserved a cassette copy and has now digitized it for release. As a glimpse into history, this CD offers some profundity in the way rhythm guitar and percussion on some tracks changed from what sounds like an earlier recording: a more Obituary-like straightforward drumming style is present, and rhythm guitar was less omnipresent, favoring more Immolation like double-hits than in the space of their expectation provide squeals and technically precise noise.
Unfortunately, the production is painful, with peaks in the recording causing a "sheets of rain" effect where noise surges and then clips the sound to follow, like a fat person tugging on a pair of jeans before escaping to a city street. Most of the music is nearly identical to the tracks from Onward to Golgotha but as a historical document this CD reveals some of the machinations behind one of the genre's most rightfully celebrated releases.