Beyond the Unknown

The well-traveled crossroads intersecting thrash metal and early (early) death metal is one of many blurred lines and instances of conjecture. Without knowing the state of mind the musicians were in at the time of recording, one can only guess as to whether or not there was a conscious effort to blaze altogether new trails, or simply continue pushing thrash's boundaries, which had honestly already reached critical mass. Enter Louisiana's Incubus, who dropped a couple of true thrash/death juggernauts in the late '80s, their debut even predating the venerable Altars of Madness! Beyond the Unknown is the second, and by a margin more impressive of these two albums; and while I have personally witnessed some confusion between this act and the Florida/Georgia haven for displaced Morbid Angel members (Rest in peace, SVS), this Incubus is the one you want in your corner.

For the sake of coherency, one can conceivably dissect this album based on the tropes it pulls from each extreme. The rationing of riffs screams more death metal to my ears, so comparisons to Demolition Hammer, Energetic Krusher and the like aren't necessarily as precise as the final product may suggest. The brothers Howard make a fine showing for only two individuals, and Francis rolls out fluid, cryptic and unforgiving riffs of extremely high order without cessation. Beyond the Unknown as a collective effort is worthy of praise, as is the fact that it is laid out in a very digestible manner, perfectly suited for the occult-laden climes the music delivers. Each and every song is a trenchant entanglement of murky grooves and bristling tremolos. Hardly the riff soup it could have been, the album's busier moments retain just enough constructive reason to hold proceedings together, no matter how scattershot the riff delivery becomes. All things considered, there is a reasonable-enough level of variation, as some tracks like "The Deceived Ones" play with a more sundering, midpaced template to counterpoint Francis' divebomb solo work.

The duo careens through a reasonable eight tracks in just under forty minutes, and not a moment is spared via directionless. I get a distinctly surgical, streamlined vibe from Beyond the Unknown as well, perhaps a facet of the cleaner production values. Although a margin of that oft-revered coffin dust atmosphere is lost in the process, I can't say that it necessarily draws material this strong downward. I could see a few listeners hankering for some more sticky melodic lines, but the rhythm section is in such coherent lockstep with the lead that the percussive nature of the material carries it as far as required. Citing individual standouts is going to be difficult, but I did notice that "The Deceived Ones" proudly represents the old metal cliche of the second song being the most midpaced and/or groovy. "Curse of the Damned Cities" is also a powerhouse on a multitude of levels, taking fair advantage of Moyses' live-sounding, polished drum mix and raging through a multitude of swinging riff patterns and bulldozing sections. Stellar stuff.

And finally, taking into account that the band members emigrated from Brazil, the final piece of the puzzle seamlessly falls into place. There is without doubt a vibe not wholly dissimilar to early Sepultura at work here, separating Incubus from designation as just another deadpan Morbid Angel clone, although it would be a misnomer to totally eject such comparisons. So while the individual components aren't as distinct and/or unique as they could have been, what really matters is how the recipe comes together, and Beyond the Unknown is a complete meal. While the band did manage to trigger a few ripples in the underground, they sort of got lost in the shuffle afterward, further obfuscating their legacy by the late '90s name change possibly related to the omnipresent popularity of the Californian rock band. That said, Beyond the Unknown has managed its fair share of proponents in recent years, myself among them. A few reissues are in order, if anything to view that killer cover art in its full glory. In any event, such a competent balance of violence and power is hard to come by, so go ahead and stream a few tracks; you'll thank me later.

Incubus, hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, were true innovators in both the thrash and the early death metal scenes in the late 80s/early 90s. It is a shame they hardly get any credit for their contributions. After releasing their fine debut, which could be the most extreme in the thrash metal genre, Incubus went through a major stylistic change in terms of direction. Something happed to the band between 1988 and 1990 that would forever change the band. In my opinion, it was the departure of the original vocalist, Scott Latour, which gave Francis M. Howard an opportunity to lead the band in a much more complex direction. Whether this was for better or for worse, the result was a truly awesome achievement for both the band, and death metal in general with the colossal album known as beyond the unknown.

To say that some improvement had occurred would be a huge understatement, as every aspect from production values, to song arrangement, and musicianship had improved tenfold. No longer does the material have a "garage demo" sound quality like on Serpent Temptation. Morrisound really did a great job on this one. The drums are easily audible with their crisp clear sound. And the guitar sound (and guitar tone in particular,) has greatly improved.

In terms of songwriting, this is the best the band had put fourth so far, with numerous time signature changes, giving the album and almost progressive nature, but it's still also very brutal and straight forward in some section's recalling the Sadus debut as it's best. In addition the album has a more deathly sound than the thrashy debut. The numerous technical passages throughout the album, and the solos also add a distinct and chaotic feel to the music, now done with much more sophistication than on the previous album. Take for instance, the hectic and yet well written solo on Certain Accuracy, sounding like a much more, shall we say refined version of Kerry King. Guitarist Francis M. Howard really shreds on this one. In addition, he also play all the bass tracks on the album, proving just how diverse and talented of a musician Francis is.

Drummer Moyses M. Howard has also developed more, and play with much more deliberate and tight thrash beats. While his thrash beats aren’t nearly as fast as on Serpent Temptation, they are equally compelling and are dong with more variation and technique, than before, in many ways similar to Pete "Commando" Sandoval's performance on the slower sections of blessed are the sick. The usage of double bass in more prevalent as well.

Bar far the most advanced Incubus album upon the time's of it's release, it was, and still is a true classic of early Death Metal, and one of the first technical death metal albums. Incubus could have definitely owned the 90's death metal scene if they would have continued to release albums. Sadly, Beyond the Unknown would be their last project for quite some time, as the soft mainstream band of the same name would gain considerable popularity, forcing the band off the scene, and into hiatus for years. Regardless, it must be know that this is the original Incubus, and their contributions death metal are to great to ignore.

This album was originally released under the band name of Incubus in 1990. It is their follow up to the 1988 debut Serpent Temptation.

In my opinion Beyond the Unknown incorporates more of a death metal sound than their debut while still having some thrash influences present. Many of the guitar riffs on here are extremely fast and somewhat intricate as well as very technical at times. But most importantly they are quite memorable. The lead work on here measures up to the same standard of being fast, intricate, technically masterful, and unforgettable.

The drumming is very tight and compliments the often speedy guitar riffs. The drummer keeps time very well with these speed laden rhythms. Also, there are a lot of skillful tempo changes throughout the album. Most of the songs go from chaotically fast yet precise guitaring to chunky mid-paced rhythms and successfully transition from one to another very smoothly.

The vocals are a nice median between thrash shouts and grunted death metal growls which suits the music quite well since the style is a hybrid of death and thrash metal. My favorite songs on here are the title track, Freezing Torment, and Mortify. Also, the song Massacre of the Unborn takes a strong moral stance against abortion and in my opinion is a pro-life anthem for the death metal genre.

The production is very clean, loud, and nearly flawless. The guitar tone is very crisp and comes through the speakers more clearly than most any death/thrash release from 1990. However, the bass kind of gets buried in the mix.

This is a must have for people who like old school death metal with some thrash thrown into the mix. It would be nearly impossible for fans of this subgenre to be at all disappointed with this somehow underrated death/thrash masterpiece.

I'll start out by saying I'm not a death metal fan, not by any means. To me, good death metal songs appeared here and there by various big bands, but I had never heard a solid death metal album. I though death metal was just brutal thrash with more drumming, lower vocals, and terrible structure resulting in a sub genre that substitutes brutality in for songwriting. That was, of course, until I was introduced to Opprobrium, properly titled Incubus at the time. This is the reason I enjoy extreme metal today. I was fascinated with it, so fascinated with it in fact, that I couldn't believe this wasn't the remainder of the "big four" for death metal. And perhaps, if they never slit up, they would reside amongst famous death bands, but are instead viewed as a "Morbid Angel clone". This also disturbed me, as I find Morbid Angel to be my least favorite death metal band, and I believe Incubus should receive more credit for their early step into death metal with their demo released in 1987.

The first and most noticeable aspect of the beginning of this album is that it's fast. Pretty damn fast at that. The album keeps along at a good pace without abusing chugging or blast beats, but uses both appropriately. The first song is a great speedy start to the album, and it's clearly certified for a "guaranteed to rape your speakers" badge. The rest of the album retains this high reverb and echo filled sound at various speeds. It's a really unique sound that I have yet to come across again. I almost wish I could can it and sell it to other bands to use. Not only are the guitars sinister and atmospheric, but the drums are a tight snap, and the double bass drumming is audible, as are the many various cymbals strewn throughout the mix. Scott has been kicked from the band now, leaving Francis on the vocals, which was a supreme choice. His vocals are very aggressive, but not too present or overwhelming. The sound is one of the things that makes this album what it is.

Beyond the Unknown delivers a unique and fresh look into the early death metal development days. Some argue that it's not genre defining, but it had lots of aspects to be tapped into. This is a must own for everyone into brutal thrash and early death metal.

This album has been in my collection for 18 years now and every once in a while it still finds its way into my cd-player. So there must be something classic about it af far as I’m concerned. To be honest there really is only one flaw here.

Incubus consists of the brothers Francis (guitars & vocals) and Moyses Howard (drums) with various others playing with them over the years live and on other records. Point is that is a sort of death metal consisting of simple single guitar riffs and therefor not much is done compositionally with interacting guitars. Therefor the result is quite one dimensional. This however is not a flaw.

As said the album is a riff fest. Most tracks consist of more different paces and riffs than your average death metal group from that period. The group however manages to make every change in pace or key sound pretty natural (logical). This also obviously creates a very dynamic and diverse old school album. The brothers know exactly when to put in a mid paced section just so the following faster section sounds even faster than it already is. This is clever composing.

A lot of riffs are memorable and catchy. Furthermore the production is perfectly suiting. The guitars are loud, vile and aggressive yet they remain clear enough to keep definition. The drums are clear and brutal and I especially like the sound on double bass parts. Very typical is how this production sounds pretty different from the other albums that came from the Morrissound studio during that period.

The vocals are not your average low pitched grunts but are somewhere between early Sepultura and Possessed, giving the album an extreme thrash metal atmosphere at certain points but still remaining old school death metal in the end.

What was the supposed flaw then I mentioned earlier? Well that would be the ability to write essential compact songs. The album is best played when not paying attention to individual songs but the experience as a whole. As said it is a riff fest and sometimes the feeling of a ‘song’ is lost because of this. Bands like Pestilence, Death and Entombed were better at focussing on the principle of songwriting instead of putting 100 briliant riffs after eachother.

So there you have it. The album doesn’t as such consist of 8 death metal songs but is a 39 minute death metal experience. However if I should be forced to name highlights, it would be opener “Certain Accuracy ” and “Massacre of the Unborn” (even though I strongly disagree with the lyrical content!). So even though there are no classic death metal songs to be found the fact that this album still sounds brutal and enjoyable after 18 years says enough…

Incubus second full-length hit the scene in the early 90's and brought us a tasty mixture of the then dying thrash scene and the upcoming (new wave of)deathmetal scene. These were the days when thrash and death was not composed for poodles or kult kiddies. All the tracks on this album are filled with fast vicious riffing and double bass lines without losing focus on songstructures. There is also a lot of powerfull mid tempo riffing accompanied by a ferious shouter spitting out mankind threatening issues. Incubus somehow manages, this also goes for their prevoius effort, to create their own sound of sonic violence combined with a crushing dark atmosphere.

The only problem with this release is that the songs might differ not that much from each other. This only occurs when one is not paying to close attention to it, while doing the dishes or something. If you are into bands like Exhorder, Demolition Hammer or even Exumer or ancient Deathrow, you will probably cum all over this one.

After this release the Howard brothers disappeared into obscurity. They probably couldn't handle their enormous succes after selling 20 million pieces of this album; the papparrazi is unrelenting.