INC
Black Hearse Serenade
Ferocious Records
2014
Well, back in the 80s, Indestructible Noise Command, used to play some uncompromising and very primal thrash with albums like Razorback and The Visitor making quite an impression… but their career was rather short-lived, from 1986 to 1990 with the albums coming pretty much back to back a year apart each other and the band calling it a day, not long after.
Some twenty years later, the band decided to give it another go, with a different rhythm section and a somewhat updated sound, that isn’t entirely denying their roots, but is a lot groovier.
“Black Hearse Serenade” apparently is some grand concept… “telling a story, set in Southern California, about a broken man, his congregation of runaways, junkies and lost souls and a murderous path to finality. A childhood filled with embarrassment and shame, born of religious zealotry and an overbearing mother, that broken child has now become a man”, according to guitarist Erik Barath.
Sounds like a ton of fun then...
In the ten songs of the album there’s a variety of tempos and moods, but mostly anger and desperation seem to prevail, through the riffy, rhythmical mountainsides… that occasionally seem to subside for a mellower, more melodic moment, or the occasional solo. While remaining technical and edgy, I.N.C. have nicely enough updated their sound, without entirely losing their identity. (Some might not even be accepting of these mild modernizations, but I suppose those guys, can just stay stuck onto the original albums)
Songs like the rapid firing “Stirring the Flock”, the mangling “Organ Grinder” or the raging “No Turning Back” have little to envy from the band’s contemporaries, like Exodus or Onslaught while they even give newer bands like Lamb of God and the rest a run for their money in terms of brutality. (As most old school thrash albums with updated prod. do). There are more songs to sink your teeth into, but all in all, “Black Hearse Serenade”, might take a few spins (due to its conceptual nature) to completely sink in, but it doesn’t disappoint.
Some twenty years later, the band decided to give it another go, with a different rhythm section and a somewhat updated sound, that isn’t entirely denying their roots, but is a lot groovier.
“Black Hearse Serenade” apparently is some grand concept… “telling a story, set in Southern California, about a broken man, his congregation of runaways, junkies and lost souls and a murderous path to finality. A childhood filled with embarrassment and shame, born of religious zealotry and an overbearing mother, that broken child has now become a man”, according to guitarist Erik Barath.
Sounds like a ton of fun then...
In the ten songs of the album there’s a variety of tempos and moods, but mostly anger and desperation seem to prevail, through the riffy, rhythmical mountainsides… that occasionally seem to subside for a mellower, more melodic moment, or the occasional solo. While remaining technical and edgy, I.N.C. have nicely enough updated their sound, without entirely losing their identity. (Some might not even be accepting of these mild modernizations, but I suppose those guys, can just stay stuck onto the original albums)
Songs like the rapid firing “Stirring the Flock”, the mangling “Organ Grinder” or the raging “No Turning Back” have little to envy from the band’s contemporaries, like Exodus or Onslaught while they even give newer bands like Lamb of God and the rest a run for their money in terms of brutality. (As most old school thrash albums with updated prod. do). There are more songs to sink your teeth into, but all in all, “Black Hearse Serenade”, might take a few spins (due to its conceptual nature) to completely sink in, but it doesn’t disappoint.