INCENTIVES: DUSK (EP) Review by Jordan Sibberas

“But does it djent?” is a question often asked in jest by fans of djent, so for those of you who like your guitars tuned to drop z, I can confirm that Incentives’ new EP Dusk does indeed djent. However, for those of us who don’t polyrhythm or thall, there’s plenty of points of interest in this album that make it dynamic and exciting.

Bright, crisp guitar opens up ‘Dawn’, the first track and natural starting place of dusk. Instantly the quality of the compositional work and the production quality is evident in the wall of sound Incentives push out. Continuing on is the epic ‘Better Off’, which carries the juxtaposition of crunching, low tuned guitars and a warm, melodic overtone in a fresh reimagining of the djent genre.

For the uninitiated, djent refers to the style of rhythm guitar playing where the low tuned strings produce a crunchy sound that is best verbalised as a ‘duh-jent duh-jent’, and typically the style is coupled with ambient guitar and time signatures other than the usual 4/4. Incentives brings a new flair to the genre, which adds dynamic chord progressions and restrained song composition, resulting in an exciting blend of the east coast post-hardcore sound pioneered by legends like The Amity Affliction and In Hearts Wake with monstrously heavy low ends and jarring rhythmical accuracy.

After rocking along with a pulsing consistency, ‘Place Holder’ (track four) starts to set Dusk into a sunset of sorts, with a softer, sombre mood that is left unbroken by the ever present djenting low end. This track is definitely a highlight and a turning point of the EP as from here on in the initial brightness gives way to a mood of melancholy that is seems to hint at the lyrical concepts. Better still is the final track, which also happens to be the title track. Every element of this song is a culmination of the various facets of previous songs; even heavier percussive elements are draped in technical shredding and sweet clean vocals are jarred against by aggressive growls.

Whilst it is true that djent has been done before by bigger bands, and that the Australian post-hardcore scene has been well and truly oversaturated, Incentives bring something new and fresh to the table that is sure to have them stand out above the noise in the following years. Dusk drops June 30^th and is set to make waves, be sure to give it a spin.