Список групп Pagan Folk Incursed Time to Unsheathe Our Rusty Swords

I love to find new and promising bands in the underground. They give me an indication in which direction the whole genre is going to go in, as I know one day some of the bands I review on Spirit Of Metal will be big one day. If I were to make a list of which bands I review would make it big, I think Incursed would be up there with the top of the list.

Incursed are a pagan/viking metal band hailing from Spain, releasing what seems to be their first demo called "...Time to Unsheathe Our Rusty Swords" to the world. Generally, the demo certainly impresses. There's some fantastic moments on here, and they certainly seem to be ahead of the game when it comes to production and organization. I often receive demos that are lackluster-ed, basically just a bad display of ideas on a disc. However, Incursed certainly have put in a lot of thought into how this record sounds and plays, and this is a fantastic sign of talent and it shows they truly care about the music they write.

The first track, called "Incursion", blew away all negativity and doubt I had about this band from the moment it started playing. Catchy and memorable riff, beautifully realized synth, and an overall sense of direction that a lot of bands seem to lack nowadays. I will mention however that the lyrics didn't exactly rub me in the right way. They seemed incredibly forced, and they're very generic. However, I usually look past the lyrics, all I normally care about is the instrumentation and the order - and Incursion nail this. I hope however that in the future they use more...inspired lyrics.

The second track, "Wild!", to me is just a less engaging and worse version of track 1. I don't see anything in this track that wasn't done in the first song and better. However, things look up in the third track called "Warrior's Nightmare" with a fantastic breakdown in the middle of the song, which sounds very professional and superbly executed. Fantastic track. Track four, "Guardians", is probably my favorite song on the album. It's an absolute roller coaster of a song, constantly changing. But the transitions are brilliantly done, and there isn't a moment that feels out of place. Truly and achievement of a song, and definitely the best this CD has to offer. The lyrics in this song are better, too. There is a lot of Ensiferum influence in this song, too. Ensiferum fans, jump all over this and give them support!

Track five breaks the good streak, though. This is a generic viking metal drinking song, but nowhere near as good as it should have been. It sounds really uncomfortable to listen to, which is a shame - it was a great idea just badly realized. The lyrics here are the worst this CD has to offer, too. The production on this song is very bad and unbalanced. The production on this CD as a whole is pleasant to listen to, not bad at all for an underground band! However, this song needs a lot of work.

Overall though, this CD is impressive to come from such a small band. There are moments here that obviously showcase raw talent, but all I'm seeing here is "lots of talent, but no inspiration". Don't let this put you off though. The instrumentation is up there with the best of pagan metal, and with just a splash of inspiration, they could be in the league of kings.