Up in Hell: Incite Sound like Every Uneducated Nitwit’s Idea of Heavy Metal
Over their five-year recording history, Incite have not been able to find a steady label home for their albums. So what, you say. Lots of bands make small-batch, single-release deals on various labels. It’s the way the underground scene works, when nobody’s making fistfuls of dollars and it takes dozens of outlets working in concert to support this scene we love. But remember that a lot of that label shuffling has to do with businesses that specialize in certain release formats (vinyl, cassettes, hand-etched slices of fossilized tyrannosaurus dung, etc.). Generally, bands worth the investment get snapped up and jealously guarded: think Skeletonwitch and Prosthetic, Portal and Profound Lore, Isis and Ipecac. And since Little Richie Cavalera (Incite’s vocalist) is the progeny of South American metal royalty Max Cavalera (fallen though he may be), it seems that his band could certainly rally support if they played worthwhile music.
They do not.
While Incite’s members hover around their late 20s, there’s a disappointing adolescence about Up in Hell that flattens every other characteristic the music might also have. Screamed lines like, “There’s so much that I want to say before I take you out… What the fuck? You’re not perfect either!” and “I hate you so much” and “fuck everyone’s opinion, we’ll carry on” will hardly inspire repeated listens by anyone who sets their own curfew. And it’s a minor (but hilarious) gripe to mention that an odd vocal choice makes the title track’s declarative chorus sound like Italian immigrant bashing: “Wop in this hell!”
Most people I know can’t understand why I attend Maryland Deathfest each year. Those people probably imagine I’m subjecting myself to an entire weekend that sounds like Up in Hell and professing to like it. That Incite sound like every uneducated nitwit’s idea of heavy metal is not a compliment. So, all you crusty hardasses, next time you find yourself sneering about dedicated fans of Devin Townsend or Mike Patton being willing to shell out for a scratch-n-sniff double disc comp of those guys’ fart recordings, remember that bands like Incite also exist and release music. My point? There are worse things than cuing up a couple room-clearing hours of Patton’s Pootin’.
Incite’s Up in Hell comes out September 2 on Minus Head Records. You can stream the track “Fallen” here and pre-order the album here.
