Incendium is Burial Horde’s third full-length release, following on from 2008’s Devotion To Unholy Greed, so you can definitely say this album has been a long time coming.
One of the things that immediately grabs you about this release is the sound quality. Black metal is a genre known for low-quality recordings but this has a thick and powerful sound behind the music and it really works in the album’s favour. The guitars have a nice crisp tone to them and are backed up by a good meaty bassline beneath, with the drums hammering out an intense beat underneath. The vocals have a great tone to them and with all this combined, it makes for an engaging listen.
A particularly strong track is Horns Of Consecration, which has some excellent guitar-work throughout and features an all-round strong vocal performance from frontman Cthonos. It has a lot of energy within its five-minute duration and really keeps the pace going from start to finish. Another great inclusion is Scorned (Aokigahara). This one takes a slower and somewhat doom-esque route, and it’s great to see that the band can play a diverse range of tracks rather than the same-old format for each song. The extra touch of melody in this one works in the track’s favour and helps drive the track forward, which is good because sometimes longer tracks run the risk of dragging a little.
Although there’s nothing that really gives the album that extra edge, it’s a very good release and Burial Hordes have done themselves proud here.
8/10
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