Straight ahead, full-on metal, like the style played by Unearth or Lamb of God, is sometimes a hard genre to review. The key elements of this metal genre are screaming/yelling vocals, heavy drumming, and intense guitar work (often accompanied by either crunchy breakdowns or shredding). Most bands in this genre usually possess all of these features and use them well, so a lot of the time deciding which band is good and which is bad can be a hard decision. In fact, when it comes down to it, with a lot of metal bands it’s all about the feel of the music.
Invocation of Nehek possess all of the metal genre prerequisites, but the “feel” of their self-titled disc isn’t quite in the same league as many of their compatriots. The biggest turn-off to this disc is probably the “feel” of the vocals. Most of the time they sound like a more aggressive Atreyu, but some of the higher pitched screaming can become grating. Their best vocal moments come in their breakdowns where you’re treated to unmitigated growling textured over crunching guitars and pummeling drums. A couple other places that the vocals are slightly hurt are the few moments where a stab at melody is made. On “A Picture’s Worth”, the intro to the song is made up of melodic vocals over down-tempo guitar plucking, which eventually leads into the meat of the song. During this intro, and the melodic bridge later on in the song, the melodic approach doesn’t feel natural and instead comes off as being very forced and unnatural.
With all of that said, this is a pretty solid metal disc. You’ll get your usual amount of breakdowns, shredding, and mosh pit inducing choruses and nothing much more. Invocation of Nehek won’t stand out in a crowd, either negatively or positively, so you can consider it a safe, if unremarkable, cd to pick up.
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