Mortal Throne of Nazarene (1994) - Incantation

Released in 1994, Mortal Throne of Nazarene stands as one of the most harrowing and blasphemous monuments in death metal history. Incantation had already laid down a marker with their debut Onward to Golgotha, but Mortal Throne of Nazarene took that foundation and dragged it deeper into the abyss. Where other bands sought technical precision or clean production, Incantation sank into filth, choosing to amplify the suffocating atmosphere of rot, heresy, and impending doom.

This is not an album that tries to be friendly to the listener. It is a hostile, cavernous force that feels almost designed to repel the uninitiated. It sounds like the walls of a forgotten crypt closing in on you, the air growing thinner with every crawling riff and demonic growl.

Tracklist:

1. Demonic Incarnate

2. Emaciated Holy Figure

3. Iconoclasm of Catholicism

4. Essence of Blasphemous Abomination

5. The Ibex Moon

6. Blissful Bloodshower

7. Abolishment of Immaculacy

8. Nocturnal Kingdom of Demonic Enlightenment

Album Overview:

The album opens with Demonic Incarnate, which immediately drops the listener into a pit of writhing, sluggish riffs and Craig Pillard's infamous growls. His vocal performance on this record is monstrous — not just low and guttural, but believable in its sense of pure hatred. The song ebbs between slow, almost funeral-doom-like sections and rapid bursts of blast-beaten chaos, a pattern that defines much of the album’s sound.

Emaciated Holy Figure continues with a similar blueprint but pulls the listener even deeper into murk. The guitars churn with a muddy, malevolent tone, and the drums feel distant, almost as if recorded from the other side of a collapsed cathedral. There's a looseness to the performances, but it never feels sloppy—more like a ritual unraveling under its own blasphemous weight.

By the time Iconoclasm of Catholicism arrives, the themes become clearer: this is an album about sacrilege, about the utter annihilation of religious sanctity. The riffs here are sharper, slicing through the thick atmosphere like a jagged knife. The structure of the song is almost nonlinear, creating the feeling of a ceremony descending into chaos.

Essence of Blasphemous Abomination stands out with some of the most oppressive slow sections on the record. Incantation here flirts with pure doom, letting every note drag out like the tolling of a funeral bell in a forgotten necropolis.

The Ibex Moon is one of the more recognizable tracks, partly because it has become a minor anthem for Incantation fans. It carries a more traditional death metal energy without sacrificing the overwhelming murk that defines the album.

Blissful Bloodshower and Abolishment of Immaculacy bring the violence back in full force, with frantic riffs and gurgled vocals crashing together like waves of molten hate. Despite the chaotic feel, these tracks have an almost hypnotic effect; there’s a buried sense of structure beneath the madness that keeps pulling you deeper.

Finally, Nocturnal Kingdom of Demonic Enlightenment closes the album with a staggering sense of dread. It's a slow, lumbering exodus into darkness, leaving the listener buried beneath layers of smoke and sacrilege. The ending doesn’t offer release or redemption—it only seals the tomb.

Mortal Throne of Nazarene is not an album for casual death metal fans. It demands patience, endurance, and a willingness to be swallowed whole. Unlike the clean, razor-sharp death metal coming out of Florida at the time, Incantation chose to create music that sounds diseased, crumbling, and genuinely evil. It is, in many ways, the true sound of death—not just a genre label, but a sonic manifestation of decay and spiritual collapse.

For those who connect with this record, it becomes an almost religious experience in itself—a dark reflection of everything sacred turned to ash. It doesn’t rely on gimmicks, technical showboating, or production tricks. Its power lies in its suffocating authenticity.