Monday 2 February 2015

Incursed - Beer Bloodbath EP & Elderslied Album (CD Review)


01.Beer Bloodbath
02.Raging Wyverns
03.Die By The Sword
04.Game Of Thrones
05.Beer Bloodbath (Drunken version)


01.Song Of The Ancient
02.Heart Of Yggdrasil
03.Raging Wyverns
04.The Wild Hunt
05.Beer Bloodbath
06.Tidal Waves
07.Jötnar
08.A Fateful Glare
09.Lady Frost
10.The Undying Flame (Homeland part II)
11.Suaren Lurraldea (The Land of Fire)
12.One Among A Million
13.Promise Of Hope


Narot Santos (Vocals/Guitar)
Jon Koldo Tera (Vocals/keyboards)
Asier Fernandez (Guitar)
Juan Sampedro (Bass)
Asier Amo (Drums)




Incursed were formed in October 2007 by Narot Santos and Sergio C. Bravo. It was
difficult for them in the beginning, but when they moved to Bilbao the band started
to work. There they met Lander Martinez, and they recorded together the first EP,
“...time to unsheathe our rusty swords” in April, 2009.
As the EP got nice reviews, the band decided to complete its line-up so they
could play live. Then, Jon Koldo Tera “Jonkol” and Asier Amo joined the band.
After some time fully dedicated to rehearsals, the band started to play live shows.
They also recorded again their EP with the full line-up. In summer, 2010, Incursed
recorded, at home, their first album, “Morituri”, which was released in September
that year.

There was a line-up change in February, 2011. Lander and Sergio left the band replaced by Juan Sampedro and Asier Fernandez.
Ending 2012, their second album was released “Fimbulwinter”. Since then their music
spread worldwide, arriving to distant countries such as Brazil or Japan.
In 2013 they performed at their most important show until today, the Carpathian
Alliance Metal Fest in Ukraine.


As both album and EP are released at the same time i shall start with the EP.

'Beer Bloodbath' is a pretty straight forward mix of pagan viking metal with a death metal vocal style, it is 'Raging Wyverns' that really starts to make you take notice, a superb mix of speed metal, pagan metal and folk metal, from acoustic breakdowns to full on hyper speed drumming and a good dual vocal of death growls and harmony.

Next two tracks are more in the same style as track one, then finally comes the drunken version, surprisingly the vocals are much clearer!!!

The album starts with the instrumental 'Song Of The Ancient' a very symphonic piece that (hopefully) sets the tone for whats to come next.

No mention in the credits as to who is playing the Accordian, but respect to him or her for doing so because it really lends itself well to 'Heart Of Yggdrasil', a great mix of speed metal and folk/pagan rock.

'Raging Wyverns' starts with some nice acoustic guitar and then evolves into an anthemic masterpiece, spoken vocal turns to death growls and the song just keeps building second by second, gets faster then a nice guitar breakdown and anthemic vocals and guitar to the end.

Again lack of info with regards to another contributer, this time its the violin player on 'The Wild Hunt', a more agressive metal song with some nice "Jig's" thrown into the mix.

I have already mentioned 'Beer Bloodbath' so moving on to 'Tidal Waves' which due to the guitar playing and that keyboard sound borders on euro power metal.

Another anthemic song follows with 'Jotnar', classic folk rock undertones blend with a touch of doom to create an atmospheric piece.

Next up is a short and downbeat female vocal performance, again no info as to who this is, but its very nice.

'Lady Frost' with its frantic riffing and drums returns to near power metal levels, but when the vocals come in, it gives it that dethly growl to avoid said genre.

Returning to the more acceptable sounds of pagan/folk metal is the seven and a half minute 'The Undying Flame', they seem to throw everything at this one, from slow to speed, acoustic to straight forward heavy metal and all vocal styles.

'Suaren Lurraldea' starts with an old 78 rpm soundbite complete with scratches on vinyl, then in the tradition of accept's fast as a shark flicks the needle across the vinyl to get to the heavy music, this one has some more great dual vocals and outstanding keyboard work.

'One Among A Million' is nearly eleven minutes long, at times more of a modern doom metal hybrid, then later elements of progressive rock are added in before we end of another symphonic farewell.

Rating 8/10 (EP) 10/10 (ALBUM)
For Fans Of: Turisas, Alestorm, Amon Amarth, Elvenking, Volksmetal

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