Just imagine, if you will, that you are on a walk in the forest and something in the thick brambles catches your eye. It's an old, abandoned house and even in the bright sun it has an ominous feeling about it. You know you shouldn't go any further, but the path is just behind you and you definitely saw lots of other hikers out there. No sooner have you opened the creaking door; you are grabbed around the neck. There are three of them. You scream but they just laugh. Nothing makes sense, it's broad daylight and no help was aroused by the commotion you made. During your ordeal there are moments of beautiful reprieve, but in the main it's a frenzied and heartless attack. Nothing matters, no rhyme nor reason to these lunatics but the kill, and "Predestination To Damnation" is their collective mentality. If you want your skull turned into a candle holder, then come on in.

INCERTUS are three guys from Pomeria/Lower Silesia, in Poland, and this is their debut album. If you are wondering why my allusion before had to take place in the daytime, it's because this album is quite light in its composition. The riffs are almost heavy or thrash metal and there are some beautifully delicate guitar solos in the mix. It's the guttural vocals, time changing drums and the church organ that give it the sinister feel. P. Wolf's two levels of growling are very impressive, bear-like one-minute, downright low end heavy at another (not quite DEMILICH but not far off). The guitars are heavy and delicately intricate at the right times and the drumming is clever and inventive.

The opener "Preludium & Ultima Necat" lays down the signatures of the band early on; a sinister organ piece leads to a really cool riff and a very smart interlude that's reminiscent of ENSLAVED (and I don't make that comparison lightly). We are then met with a chest thumper in "Rise of Torment", a little thrashier on here but again the sweetness of the solo is a smart change. The great bass sound comes to the fore in "The Return Of Darkness and Evil" and they are at their most progressive on "I, The Fool" and the title track. The album ends with another disconcerting organ track and that should have been that. On this release they added two tracks that they recorded a few months before this album; "The Devil Takes Me Away" and "To Hell With Us". These, much to my pure selfish frustration, are hands down my favourites of the lot. They are more like blackened death metal and the vocals suit this style a bit better.  Please understand that I think the album itself is a gem, but these two songs are at a different level for me. They probably could have spaced them out in the main album to add another dimension but I'm still so glad they added them on here.

These guys are onto something really clever here, their musicianship and song writing knowledge is in place for sure. And I know there are going to be people who prefer their style in the main album than on the two extra tracks but for me, an album in the style of the latter with all the band's unusual nuances would make it a 10/10. But they have made a very interesting record here and such imagination is always extremely welcome and quite commendable for a debut. Looking forward to being slowly murdered by them again in the near future.