Album Review: Incandesca – “Destronomer” (Progressive Deathcore)

Written by Kirk

It doesn’t take much to see that the world around us is burning. Economies collapsing across the globe, climate crisis after climate crisis, and don’t get me started on the billionaires. What are we to do about it all? What can we do? And if we could fix it all, would we?

These are questions to which Incandesca seeks to answer. On their debut full-length, Destronomer, the follow-up to last year’s self-titled EP, the fate of humanity is hanging by a thread. Their growing apathy over the disparate state of the planet has given birth to a being of enormous power—the Destronomer—who holds in its hands influence over our unconscious mind.

(Editor’s note: There is no Bandcamp page for this album at the time of publishing. We’ll update with a player and a link once the album is released. The YouTube track below is from the band’s previous EP.)

This is where things kick off with “Broadcast from the Stars,” a mellow, soothing opening track with gentle guitar and (gasp!) piano over a milieu of a staticy broadcast of the world going to…well, shit. And then “To Infinity, and Your Mom!” kicks the door in with guitars blazing and drums blasting. As the song fades, we are greeted with a radio broadcast heralding the impending demise of humanity as it pulls a page out of Queens of the Stone Age’s book (see Songs for the Deaf) and introduces the next song, “It’s the End of the World (And We Blew It!)”, by none other than Incandesca.

This song opens with a nice bass solo over hushed voices heralding the arrival of the Destronomer:

“Look to the sky… / You brought this on yourself / Self destruction for a temporary satisfaction… / I am the Destronomer”

And then the guitars start buzzing like a pair of circular saws. This song brilliantly encapsulates the feeling of desolation; you can almost hear the world burning around you. And then the mood changes completely as “Doomsayer’s Prayer” saunters in with a melancholy acoustic intro, kicking off an almost death-doom dirge as the Destronomer begins to take hold of the unconscious mind of humanity, steering them towards self-oblivion.

Things really get moving with “Write Me Out” as the band really starts turning up the heat and giving it their all. And it’s here where we meet our protagonist, a lone man who has set out on a mission of self-discovery though the jungles of Peru.

“You said this would be the end of my story / Well, go on writing / Write me out”

Will he find the answers he seeks? Will he attain the mystic knowledge of why he was born without genitalia? And will this knowledge help him save the world?

This is where we find ourselves as “Journey of the Nebulus Spheres” takes flight, drums pounding and guitars soaring to new heights. That sense of hopelessness and despair begins to fade as our protagonist finds the answers he seeks. But will it be enough to stop the Destronomer? Is there still hope for humanity, or is it too late to save the world from the void?

And now comes “Gravity Bleed,” the final song and conclusion to our story. Incandesca really sells the finale, pulling out all the stops and kicking the riffs into overdrive. The fate of the world is balanced on the blade of a knife, the Destronomer prepared to blot out the sun and plunge Earth into darkness forever. Will our protagonist be able to stop the Destronomer? Or is it already too late?

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you’re one of those people who thinks that deathcore is dull and uninventive, I have two words for you: YOU’RE WRONG. Does Incandesca play old-school death metal like Death, Possessed, and Bolt Thrower? No, and you know what? THAT’S OKAY. Sure, the song titles are silly, but these guys have imagination and are clearly having a blast making music, which I thought was the whole point to begin with. And they’re hardly the first band to make metal about outer space (looking at you, Blood Incantation). Are OSDM purists going to love this album? Maybe, maybe not; but these guys have lots of potential.