Morbid Angel, Watain, Incantation Review

Come and Take It Live, Austin - TX.
 

Growing up in Tampa, FL. I quickly found the local death metal scene as my taste emerged from Metallica and Megadeth on repeat to things that are more extreme. One of the first bands in my local scene that I fell for was the iconic and now legendary Morbid Angel.  My first Morbid Angel was Domination at the recommendation of a friend, and I've never turned back. I've seen them a handful of times at home in Florida, but when I heard their latest tour with both Incantation and Watain was hitting Austin's Come and Take It Live (best metal venue in Central TX.!) I knew I had to go.

    The first band of the night was New Jersey's own Incantation. Incantation have been releasing amazing slabs of oppressive and evil death metal since 1991's Onward to Golgotha. Incantation is a band I used to appreciate more than I actually liked.  I owned copies of Golgotha and Diabolical Conquest in the 90's, and though I listened to them, I couldn't quite get into them. That changed with this performance, which I will say was the highlight of the night. Incantation only played for half an hour, but the entire time I was in awe of their amazing dirge heavy performance within the 5 or 6 songs the time allowed them, they were able to cover multiple eras of their career.

    I have been listening to Watain for over a decade. Their raw, turned Dissection-esque black metal grabbed me for the first time in the mid-2000's, and never let go. For this show they had a 40 minute set, and like Incantation played about 6 songs before the end. These songs covered all aspects of their career from their latest Trident Wolf Eclipse, while touching on songs from most of their other albums (though the Wild Hunt was not represented in the setlist).  Their show was everything a good black metal show should be with a mix of fire, darkness, and raw brutality both in the show and the music.

    Finally, it was time for Morbid Angel to hit the stage. They have recently (in the last 2 years) released a new brilliant album Kingdoms Disdained, and reunited with 2nd vocalist Steve Tucker. Their initial tours with this lineup, were from only Tucker era albums like Formulas Fatal to the Flesh and Gateways to Annihilation.  This time they've opened their catalog back up, and played songs like Blasphemy (from the cornerstone of American death metal, Altars of Madness) and other assorted tracks from their early career including Rapture (from Covenant) while also covering the Tucker era with Gateways, Formulas....,and Kingdoms tracks. The band were in top shape, and brilliant as always.