Supreme Pain, Divine Incarnation
Some how I missed out on Supreme Pain’s sophomore effort, Nemesis Enforcer, but from what I remember of the band’s excellent debut, Cadaver Pleasure, I’m going to be in for a treat with this latest full-length. The group’s fourth offering to the masses is Divine Incarnation and it’s a solid slab of death metal. Mixing the brutality and atmosphere of old school influences with modern accents and delivery, the 47 plus minutes of evil on this album represents the band’s best material to date.
Once the introductory “Dawn of a New Era” and it’s militaristic drum march have passed, we’re kicked in the teeth with the ferocious and thick “The Dark Army.” Double barrel drums blast like no tomorrow as creative and technical riffing fill the air prior to the arrival of Aad Klooserwaard’ guttural vocals. The song is just as perfect as you can get in combining two worlds/times of metal into one cohesive auditory attack. It sets the tone for the rest of the album as Supreme Pain deliver manic, blistering drums, head-nodding groove (“The Fallen Kingdom”) and an unrelenting delivery. It’s not all go go go, however. You do get your moments of respite amongst the thrashing mayhem.
“Damned Creation” settles into some seriously chugging groove that’s interspersed with plenty of double kick drum work to vary the tempo. The relentless nature of the music on this album makes it fly by quickly as songs like “Treasonous Disease,” “Spiritual Sickness” and “Putrefied Beauty” (an absolute beast of a song, by the way) fly by at blinding speeds. That’s not to say they’re not memorable — each track has some killer elements, but for the most part they are single minded in their focus. “Trapped in Heresy” and the title track slow things down a bit with more atmosphere and measured aggression.
Divine Incarnation sees this band of death dealing miscreants at their best. Each track is furious and speedy, yet contains within itself memorable sequences that stick with you for a good long while. The end result of the band’s combination of influences (old and new) is an album that may be a little one-dimensional at times, but it’s also an album that delivers some grade-A death metal. I’ve been spinning this one for a while now and suggest you do the same.