The Ultimate Incantation is the debut studio album by Polish death metal band Vader. It was released in 1992 by Earache Records. A music video was shot for the song "Dark Age", which was directed by Kimmo Kuusniemi and Tanja Katinka.
Background and recording The cover art was drawn by Dan Seagrave. The album was originally recorded at Sunlight Studio with Thomas Skogsberg, but neither the record label or Vader was pleased with the outcome and decided to use another studio because of technical issues. The new studio that they recorded at was Rhythm Studios in England with producer Paul Johnson. Piotr "Peter" Wiwczarek commented on Decibel magazine about recording album at Sunlight Studios, saying:
Reception and legacy Steve Huey of AllMusic contended that The Ultimate Incantation cemented Vader as one of the most technically proficient bands in the death metal genre. However, he claimed that the raw production values impaired the clarity of the album's instrumentation.
Track listing
Personnel Production and performance credits are adapted from the album liner notes.
Vader Peter − guitars, bass, vocals Doc − drums Jackie − bass (credited, did not perform) China − rhythm guitar (credited, did not perform)
Production Peter − lyrics Paweł Wasilewski − lyrics Paul Johnson − sound engineering, production Dan Seagrave − cover artwork Francesca Hollings − photography Tomek Malinowski − photography
Note Recorded & mixed at Rhythm Studios, England, UK, 1992
Release history Region Date Label Poland 1992 Carnage Records Europe, US 16 November 1992 Earache Records, Relativity Records Japan 1 March 1993 Toy's Factory Poland 1994 Metal Mind Productions
References