It was but the early autumn of 2018 when Invocation released The Mastery of the Unseen EP through Iron Bonehead. Although only two songs, The Mastery of the Unseen was presciently titled, for the Chilean power-trio made masterful strides since their debut CDR in 2016 and the extremely promising Seance Part. I demo released later that year. Exhibiting the same sulfurous energy as the first works but now displaying a uniquely feral poise, that two-song salvo set the stage for yet another presciently titled work in early 2020: Attunement to Death, again released by Iron Bonehead. Indeed with this mini-album did Invocation reach a hellish harmony with their classic South American diabolism, but on Attunement to Death did they imbue it with an ever-deeper - and ever-more-unique - aspect that bountifully displayed their authentic grounding in the occult. At long last, nearly a decade after their formation, Invocation unleash their full-length debut: The Archaic Sanctuary (Ritual Body Postures). Upon first blush, thankfully, very little has changed in the Chileans' sound; restless, roiling, and most definitely RIPPING, their teeth-gnashing gnarliness is squarely situated between black metal and death metal, with no compromise nor fence-sitting to be found. But, where the mini-length predecessor saw the trio exhibiting confidence to spare, The Archaic Sanctuary utterly EXPLODES with it. Tight yet loose, wild yet locked-in, primitive constructions played with flowing finesse - Invocation's songwriting and execution have mostly stayed the same but somehow grown to enviable proportions, punishing mind and body with oft-overwhelming and yet always-mesmerizing METAL brewed in the cauldrons of the ancient and occult. No more but definitely no less, this is exactly the sort of debut album Invocation needed to deliver: canvassing past, present, and future and fittingly framing it with another gritty analog recording rich with sulfurous fire and sepulchral echoes. It was only a matter of time before Chile's Invocation delivered a debut album to capitalize on the massive potential they displayed on their short-lengths. With The Archaic Sanctuary (Ritual Body Postures), they now can enter the hallowed ranks of fellow cult countrymen Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Force of Darkness, Slaughtbbath, and the sorely missed Hades Archer for standard-bearers of classic South American madness.
