INCANDESCENCE is a two-piece black metal titan hailing from Montreal, Quebec. Founded by Tyrant in 2010, Tyrant wanted to create fresh, interesting Black Metal that he could call his own. Come 2014, he released a full length album titled "Abstractionnisme" alongside vocalist Francis Desrochers aka Dystre Fjell. Shortly after this release, Dystre left to be replaced by the current vocalist, Louis-Paul Gauvreau. The two collaborated on the most recent release: "Ascension". This masterwork of an album was released on March 15, 2019. I wouldn't be surprised if this fell too short to reach a lot of people, and I got to say - that's one of the most unfortunate things I've ever heard.

"Autodafe" really opens up the album well. The fast tremolo picking over the blasting is awesome, and we have a nice bell accent accompanying an introduction to some truly evil, blackened vocals that kind of remind me of an early Johnny Davy (JOB FOR A COWBOY) if he decided to make Black Metal rather than Blackened Tech.

"Torrent of Thoughts" comes in a little quicker, after a fade out from the previous track. Here we have some quality euro-blasting accompanied by walls of dissonant sound persuaded by the guitars so genius written by Tyrant. The bass lines really stick out to me in this song. Driving, unique, and not just endlessly playing the same as the guitars, which is something we find a lot in Black Metal.

"Rebirth" is the third amazing track on this eight track masterpiece. Opening with dissonant guitar work and tribal sounding drum rhythms, we get a mood set that is sad, but full of acceptance. A very dark kind of sad, to me. The track introduces some Post Black Metal and Shoegaze elements to the album, a small break from the onslaught of blackness that we have gotten up to this point. Don't hold your breath though, after the intro we are right back into the black sea of riffs we got familiar with in tracks one and two; albeit slower (which I love).

'Tomb Made Flesh" is more walls of dissonance decorated with tasteful, clever drumming and delicious vocal melodies that could put the greats to shame. The songwriting here is immaculate. Everything leaves space for everything else in a way that creates an amazing atmosphere. This might be my favorite song on the album, it expresses a lot of influence from Depressive Suicidal Black Metal, something that - to me - is generally either an all-or-nothing sub-genre. It either is, or it isn't.

All in all, I got to give this unrelenting masterpiece my Black Metal album of the year. This was such a treat to listen to, and I've had it on steady repeat since the day it released. The album is so perfectly composed; I can only hope to put it to justice in words. Tyrant shows here that he is an expert in genre-bending. There are so many different influences apparent in this album, and they all express themselves so strongly, and so tastefully.

This is art, guys. It really is. And let's not forget the vocals! I mean wow! Gauvreau, in his own way, also does quite a bit of genre-bending here. So many different vocal styles expressed in this album, while ultimately remaining blacker than night. I can't wait to hear more from this band, dude. Finding this band was just by chance - but I am so glad that I did! Great job, guys. I couldn't ask for a better melting pot of Black Metal subgenres. I appreciate the work you've done here. Can't wait for more!