INCUBATION

"Incubation" is the 2nd full-length studio album by French progressive doom/death metal act Supuration. The album was released through Holy Records in November 2003. It´s been 10 years since the release of the band´s debut full-length studio album "The Cube (1993)", but the band has in the intermediate years busied themselves with (among other things) their other project S.U.P.

The debut album was a really interesting mix of progressive Voivod dissonance and (early) Paradise Lost doom/death metal and that musical style is continued on "Incubation". The dark sci-fi atmosphere is intact too. There´s the occasional goth influenced clean vocal part featured in the music too (and other clean vocal styles) in addition to the predominantly growling vocals, but that was also the case on the debut. In fact it´s pretty amazing how consistent the band are after 10 years. Both when it comes to the musical style and when it comes to the quality of the music. The compositions are adventurous and intriguing, but not as such technical. The band emphasize atmosphere over technical playing, which also results in their music being progressively structured because that´s what the material calls for, rather than being progressive for the sake of it. The lyrics are a concept sci-fi story and all tracks have months in their subtitles to signal a time span of the events taking place in the story.

The sound production is sligthly sharper and more detailed than the case was on "The Cube (1993)" album, but also less dark and gritty, which I personally found rather charming about the debut. Overall "Incubation" is a great sophomore album by Supuration though, and fans of "The Cube (1993)" should not hesitate before purchasing this one. To the more casual listener I´d say that Supuration´s sound is so twisted and different from the norm, that it´s probably very much an aquired taste and therefore a listen before purchase is adviced. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.