All right, so this is INCANTATION`s 12<sup>th</sup> album to date…In general, presently, when I deal with bands who`ve been around for (tens of) years or so, well, I usually need some sort of re-confirmation, in both spirit and execution, that their “cult” status still holds up, since their name alone isn’t enough these days and there are aroundtoo many“old-school” crews who`re definitely still active yet, lo and behold, past their prime.And the best way to find out is to…find out, simples. Here we go…first off, these guys are off to a bad start, methinks,since after a couple of initial minutes, I double checked whether that wasn’t, in fact, some unreleased FUNERUSalbum, which is, in case you don’t know, INCANTATION`s offshoot. Sounds a tad too similar, if you ask me. Anyhow, the deeper I submerse into this Sect of Vile Divinities, the more Iappreciate what I hear on this cd, but,candidly, though this just is a very good death metal, there`s,alas, still plenty of death metal recordings around, too. Thus, what’s my point, then? Well, my point is, that back in the 1990, when their Entrantment of Evil ep was out,INCANTATION became, almost overnight, a well-established brand, and their form of death metal seemedtruly unique…heavy, filthy, relentless and extremely doom-laden. Cult? Yes, indeed. There were no other groups who were entitled to be claiming to be at the same level as these fellowswere – back in the day. Yeah, “back in the day”, sinceall this is undeniably gone, Sect of doesn’t sound fresh or innovative to my ears anymore,and it won’t be remembered by fans in the future due to the above-mentioned plethora of decent stuff being recorded and released, that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong, some parts are damn good, like Scribes of the Stygian for instance, I can hear a lot of impending, menacingdoom in this song, which I do like. It has a nice, apocalyptic and unearthly vibe to it. Maybe my priorities are now different when it comes to death metal or something, or the band themselves aren’t able to come up with anything ground-breaking as they used to in the distant past? Or I just have expected more from such a renowned brand like INCANTATION. Who knows and who actually cares. It’s what it is. Over and out.

 Paweł Wojtowicz