Incarnation by In Hearts Wake

ALBUM REVIEW - In Hearts Wake - “Incarnation”

Byron Bay in Australia for me will always be associated with heavy music, primarily because it’s where Metalcore icons Parkway Drive hail from, but another talented group of musicians also call it home too, fellow metalcore band In Hearts Wake. They’re back again in 2024 with 6th studio album Incarnation.

That gas pedal was stomped through the floor with opener “Spitting Nails (ǝunʇɹoɟ ɟo lǝǝɥʍ)”, we’ve been assaulted with this high octane, hardcore punk track with devastating screams and growls, brace yourself for the drop just after halfway through which hits like an atomic blast. Next I’m sorry but I’m skipping ahead to “Michigama (uɐᴉɔᴉƃɐɯ ǝɥʇ)”because there’s a whole gang of friends lending their talents: Chad Ruhlig of For the Fallen Dreams, Alfonso Civile of Heartsick, some guy named Don Bauer who no matter how long I search I cannot discover who he is (somebody please tell me), but most importantly to me, David Gunn from King 810 (absolutely adore David’s vocals), they pass the mic like a Baton down the line of singers, maybe they could have given one of the guys a track to themselves, however they all put on a great performance and as I assume Don states at the end, Oh what a banger. The next exciting track on first glance is “The Flood (ǝɔᴉʇsnɾ)” and that’s down to their aforementioned brethren in Parkway Drive, vocalist Winston McCall to be exact returning to follow up his appearance on the debut, the track is chaotic and angry, the eerie calmness of the verse allows McCall to give his sermon as he has done on the modern PWD records, and growling up a storm, but the choruses are a caffeine shot straight to the heart, my neck hurts already. Another returning friend from the debut album is The Color Morale’s vocalist Garret Rapp on “Shellshock (ssǝʇsǝᴉɹd ɥƃᴉɥ ǝɥʇ)”, it feels like you’ve been plugged into the mains, it’s sharp yet twangy, also one of the few tracks to actually have some clean vocals as this thing has been massively aggressive for the most part. Frontman Kaito Nagai of Japanese metal up and comers Paledusk joins them for “Shishigami シシ神 (ssǝɹdɯǝ ǝɥʇ)”, its disgustingly filthy and downright fucking evil, that drop at the end before a thunderous “SHISHIGAMI” took my breathe away. There’s no bad tracks, “Hollow Bone (plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ)” has gorgeous slick licks and “Orphan (lᴉʌǝp ǝɥʇ)” clawed its way out of Hell for a filthy beatdown, just needed a special mention.

I love how they made a full circle, a direct follow up in terms of themes and even the same guest as their debut album a brilliant way to send off their long standing bassist and clean vocalist Kyle Erich. I’m absolutely blown away, I was into them before but nothing like I am with this.

[9/10]

Review by Jay

*All reviews are the individual writers thoughts and are not necessarily those of Dropped Halo Media.

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