Tokyo-based Japanese death-doom destroyers Mortal Incarnation debut with Lunar Radiant Dawn, a two-track, sixteen-minute dirge of colossal and otherworldly atmospheric death metal that towers over this year's death-doom output as one of the most imposing and spellbinding manifestations the genre has seen all year. On the mesmerizing EP the Japanese four piece have masterfully harnessed the majesty and alien experimentalism first conceptualized by legendary death-doom progenitors dISEMBOWELMENT, and fused it with the merciless darkness of bands like Morbid Angel, Immolation and Incantation, to sublimate into an imposing sonic entity of unseen majesty and enormity. Unyieldingly heavy and dark, yet profoundly mystical and contemplative, through the sapient interviewing of baneful and crepuscular 90s death metal and massive architectures of lysergic psychedelic virtuosity borrowed directly from the likes of Pink Floyd and King Crimson, Mortal Incarnation have assembled one of the most modern and visionary pure death-doom releases in years, in which the intimacy and meditative powers of the golden era of 70's psych/progressive rock and the primordial darkness and ferocity of the most suffocating death metal coexist in a marvel of superb aesthetic dominance and of crushing evocative force.
Mortal Incarnation materialized in Tokyo, Japan around 2018, by the will of four individuals (Septic Necrovoid on guitar and vocals, Goatlord on guitar, R$Y on bass, and Miasma Vortex on drums) obsessed with arcane and timeless forms of extreme metal and influenced by transcendental and mystical experiences that defy reality. This fascination with otherworldly states and realms of the unknown has pushed the band to create highly contemplative and mystical music that explores states of spiritual ubiquity, out of body experiences, absurd rituals and inexplainable phenomenons that live on the plain of irreality. While early experimentalists and progenitors of absurd and boundary-pushing extreme metal like Incantation and dISEMBOEWRLMENT are obvious influences for the band, Mortal Incarnation have also been particularly drawn to the experimentalism and self-destructive artistic lawlessness seen in early Scandinavian death and black metal bands who've widely explored this almost mindless pull toward near complete loss of self: Thou Shalt Suffer, early Darkthrone, Purtenance, Crematory, early Entombed etc. Their sound has then been ulteriorly shaped by contemporary and more immaterial influences like various forms of darkwave, shoegaze and ambient music which have greatly contributed to shaping the band's almost exaggerated obsession with creating enveloping and otherworldly atmospheres used as a backdrop to a maelstrom of pulverizing primitive death metal. The urgency and intensity with which Mortal Incarnation write, perform, and record their music comes from yet another plane of inspiration which sheds ulterior light on the band's incredibly diverse background and seemingly endless pool of inspirations: hardcore and punk music, mainly brought in the band by bassist R$Y who also militates in Japanese powerviolece band Soiled Hate. Conceptually, Mortal Incarnation focus on building a mirror-like reflection to their own sound, as a perfect thematic continuation and counterpart to the music, with philosophical, fantasy, and gothic literature or Japanese manga being the main source of lyrical inspiration, especially works dealing with the transcendental realms of existence, mystical experiences, surreality, and the mystery that permeates human nature, along with concepts of vastness, enormity and of incomprehensible and sensorial and psychological awe and wonder.
Lunar Radiant Dawn cassettes are scheduled to ship on January 10 2019 and are now pre-ordeable on our Bandcamp or RELEAES page above. A 10” vinyl version is in the works and its release is TBA.