DECEMBER 2009: Despite the common misconception that the musical supply of the NY area is restricted to pseudo tough guy hardcore and hipster art fags, some of our favorite, groundbreaking, authentic acts were in fact children of the Big Apple or the vicinity and the best thing is that a legion of them are still around, touring and releasing albums that continue to defy trends, expectations and terrorist attacks. Do you like SEIZURE CRYPT, IMMOLATION, UNEARTHLY TRANCE, TOURNAMENT, WHIPLASH, PRURIENT, SUFFOCATION, SONIC YOUTH, MANOWAR or AGNOSTIC FRONT? I thought so. Also, the twisted and catacombic death metal assaults of INCANTATION continue to make just about every "best of" list we ever write about the genre. Eight monumental full-lengths under their belts, this is a band that never committed a single treasonous gesture against the original purveyors of the infernal riff, from CELTIC FROST to AUTOPSY, but continue to devastate audiences worldwide who still believe death metal should be vile and satanic, not a competition of expensive triggers or kissing collective mainstream ass with pop and progressive influences. Impressed by their long career, we contacted guitarist and vocalist John McEntee to reveal what drives them to these lengths of utter madness.

Devamitra: Your first album "Onward to Golgotha" is one of our all time favorite death metal albums around here. Especially the tone of the riffs still comes across as innovative in their morbid dissonant character. Can you tell us something about the development of this personal style, which sounds different from the more SLAYER/POSSESSED-inspired Florida bands?

John McEntee: Well, thanks a lot for the compliment. I can go on and tell you how cool we are because we have this amazing style that we created and crap, but I don't believe that is the case. Basically our style is just a mixture of everything that we are influenced by. There are a crapload of bands from the 80's and early 90's that have had an impact on our style. One of the big things that I feel is very important is that we always decide to go with the feeling and vibe we get from the riff and not worry about the notes that are actually being played. To put it more simply, it's how the riff sounds and the song sounds, not what's being played to make that sound. The bottom line is that it's not a talent show. It's fucking death metal. I always think the best music is when people are just finding a way to make the instrument express how they feel.

Devamitra: What's your choice of equipment for the super roaring death metal apocalypse guitar sound? Also, which guitarists have particularly influenced you?

John: Well, in the early days I had a Marshall JCM 800 50W head and a Gallien Kruger Cabinet. Besides that, I also used a Boss distortion pedal, I can't remember the model, but it was one of those yellowish orange ones. It was okay but very inconsistent on tour. Now I use a Mesa Boogie dual rectifier and/or a line 6 preamp with a Mesa Boogie power amp and a Marshall cabinet and just use gain from the amp. After doing a lot of touring I try to make getting my sound as simple as possible because you don't always get to use your own equipment or don't have a lot of time to mess around with an amp. So my guitar influences especially in early days were Danny Coralles, Eric Cutler, Hank Shermann, Michael Denner, Tony Iommi, Mike Torrao and Jon DePlachett and they still are, I just have even more influences now, but those will always be my fundamentals.

Devamitra: INCANTATION has had a huge number of lineup changes over the years. Did touring and hard work take its toll on people? Without naming anyone specific, are you still in good relations with most of these guys or are there lots of traitors to INCANTATION?

John: Yes, there have been a lot of them in the past, it really sucks when you have to have lineup changes but it happens. There are a lot of different reasons why things didn't work out. Playing in underground death metal band is not easy. We don't make a lot of money with the band if any. Also some people have a lifestyle change or musical style change. The bottom line for me is if for whatever reason people are not happy playing in the band then they should just leave. That is what I would do if I was in the band and wasn't happy, and I did that when I left my former band REVENANT. For the most part I'm still friends with most of the former members of the band. I see no reason just because things didn't work out in the band for that to affect a friendship. Luckily we have a really strong current line up with the band and everybody is really into the style and great players and cool people to get along with.

Devamitra: The original line-up had a couple of members of PROFANATICA, one of the most infamous black metal acts from the US. I suppose that your influence ended up in the history of black metal, so do you like the way the genre developed, into a rather theatrical direction?

John: I'm not really a fan of this Hollywood style black metal. From the old school of bands I like VENOM, BATHORY, POSSESSED, MERCYFUL FATE, CELTIC FROST, stuff like that. For me good black metal has a raw feeling to it and must be dark and aggressive. Jamming with Paul, Brett, and Aragon was a great experience, those guys were totally cool, and for me was great to jam with people that wanted to play stuff in a darker and more blasphemous style than with REVENANT. For me it was a great honor to jam with those guys, it was just too bad that we came into crossroads and had to part ways, but in the end it worked out great for both of us. We're both fans of each other's bands and there are no hard feelings. Rest in peace, Aragon.

Devamitra: Many death metal bands, including your old label mates AMORPHIS, wimped out in the mid-90's into progressive rock and suddenly all of these bands started saying that the demonic, gory and dark imagery of old death metal was just child's play and meant nothing. What continues to attract in brutal, unrelenting visions in both music and lyrics, to crank out ambiguous visions of Hell for decades and decades?

John: Yes, it's always very sad when a band that you believe in lets you down, or starts devaluing their previous material and /or style. But unfortunately those rock star egos are very common in music. Don't get me wrong, I do believe people have to follow their hearts and play the music they want to. But I do think they should show their fans some respect by just starting another band. When I started INCANTATION I had a vision and knew exactly what I wanted to do with the band. The whole success thing is just all by accident. But I knew that I wanted to play death metal, the way I wanted to, the way I believe it should sound, and I also made a commitment to myself that if I didn't want to play death metal anymore, that I would start another band and leave INCANTATION with its honor. The bottom line for me is that I like the music of INCANTATION, I like death metal, and I feel that it needs to be dark and twisted and blasphemous. If it wasn't it wouldn't be INCANTATION.

Devamitra: When was the last time you really got stunned by experience of horror and evil out in music, like "wow, they really have captured some evil spirit here", and what was it? What does it take to give that extreme feel we all have felt when first exposed to something like death metal?

John: I was just listening to the new DIVINE EVE "Vengeful and Obstinate" MCD. And I got that feeling of total darkness and misery. There was just something there where you could truly feel the agony. I just think if you are just true to yourself and learn how to tap into your inner feelings and express them with music, it's there. I just don't think everybody looks at music from their soul, but when you do everything just falls into place. There were many bands that I really felt a connection with musically, but two of them that really tapped into my darker side were when I first heard NECROVORE, and also the first time I saw MORBID ANGEL play live back in 1988. That live experience really helped me develop as a songwriter.

Devamitra: I felt that INCANTATION changed to a cleaner and stronger production on "Decimate Christendom" and "Primordial Domination", while for example "Infernal Storm" had a more obscure, blackened ambience of sound. Was this due to some choices made at the time or accidental? Has your idea towards perfect death metal production changed?

John: With Ibex Moon Records I really wanted to do my part into helping out the worldwide death metal scene, especially here in the USA. I don't want to be one of those people that sit around complaining about how much the metal scene sucks, rather be productive and do something about it. I just feel that true sincere kick ass death metal will prevail. I do think that there are more possibilities for great death metal bands these days than in the last few years. People are starting to realize that good music does not necessarily mean it has to be some kind of talent show. As for signing bands I pretty much just go if I like the band or in some way feel a connection or believe in them. I have to feel that they have something to offer to the scene. Right now we have a great roster of bands. Please show your support to these bands: they all work really hard and play some killer music.

Devamitra: What was the original, best 80's death metal in your opinion, and where will death metal go in the future? Is it doomed to the same eternal concept, or can it still develop?

John: For me, some of the great death metal bands of the 80's were AUTOPSY, POSSESSED, NECROPHAGIA, NECROVORE, MORBID ANGEL, MASTER, SEPULTURA, DEATH, MASSACRE, SACRIFICE, DARK ANGEL, PAPSMEAR, VENOM, SLAYER, PENTAGRAM (Chile), NIHILIST and GRAVE. Not all these bands were total death metal but at that time there wasn't such guidelines to the death metal style as there are today. I do think bands can expand their sound with still being death metal as long as they know the fundamentals of the music. Sadly in today's death metal too many bands are worried about being the most technical, the fastest or the most diverse. Even in worse error are death metal bands that are influenced by hip-hop and rap. To me this is totally disgusting, and these influences are a disgrace to the death metal scene.

Devamitra: How do death metal fans of the old days compare with nowadays? The old tape traders and paper zines have changed to Myspace scene kids and MP3. Is Incantation more popular now, with the easy spreading of information?

John: Well, for the most part in the USA things are not as good as they were back in the early 90's, and definitely not even close to how they were in the 80's. But there are still some places across the world where people still have the true fire for metal, especially in places like South America, and some parts of Eastern Europe and a few other places here and there. But unfortunately the reality is that those days are lost forever, I just feel lucky that I was there to experience it.

Devamitra: It's hard to imagine life without the internet at this point!

John: To me nothing can compare to the times of tape trading and paper zines. I know it sounds crazy to new kids but back in the day we had to work hard for metal. We did not have everything at our fingertips and we always had to spend our hard earned money and take chances buying records or mailing money for demos or fanzines all across the world. But the reward was great. It really made you appreciate everything that you spend your money on. Back in the 80's and early 90's I remember getting fanzines and always reading them cover to cover and always felt like I learned more about some new great band that I haven't heard of before. I mean MySpace and MP3s help spread music quicker but also cheapens it at the same time. I know that if I bought a demo and had to wait four or five weeks for it to come in the mail, that demo would mean a lot to me. It's not like now that you could just toss it on a hard drive and forget about it. Speaking for myself I was very proud of my demo and music collection. And still am. I don't know if the band's more popular now or back when we started. I would have to say it's probably pretty close to the same, maybe we're a little bit bigger now but that kind of things always seem to change with the metal trends.

Devamitra: I suppose your next album will not be progressive rock or glam metal! Can you tell us anything about the plans for it?

John: Ha ha, the next album will be pure progressive glam! Right now we don't have any plans for a new album. We might start writing stuff within the next year, but we just want to do things on our own terms and do things only when we feel it's the right time to do. Thanks a lot for the interview and thanks to everybody for their longtime support of INCANTATION.

INCANTATION is John McEntee (guitar, vocals), Chuck Sherwood (bass), Alex Bouks (guitar) and Kyle Severn (drums). They are still one of the most active of the old death metal bands in touring and recently returned from Central America. John McEntee also runs the pure death metal label Ibex Moon Records, serving releases of tormentors in the vein of ACHERON, ASPHYX and MASTER. Show some support to these brutalizers by visiting www.incantation.com and www.ibexmoonrecords.com.

Photos courtesy of myspace.com/incantation