Track Listing:

1. Wayboss Dance
2. Altered Beast
3. Itchburn
4. Alone On The Hill
5. Grey
6. Time For Colours
7. Scented Candle
8. We Can Help You
9. Philosophy In The West
10. If I Were Beautiful

Formed in Essex in 2004, Inca now have their ambitions set on the world stage – and they plan to take it by force. According to the official Inca website, they “fuse their own brand of riff based, energetic hybrid sounds with defined slabs of guitars, bass, drums and sweet n’ sour vocal melodies.” They have managed to piece together “Ten Gazillion Years”, their debut album.

The album gets a good kick-start with “Wayboss Dance”. A rock song with just a hint of funk floating about. The vocals sound like they belong in some Wheatus tribute band – but amazingly, it does work at times. This jumble of catchy riffs flows into “Altered Beast”, a strongly bass dominated song, and “Itchburn” keeps up this idea of playing simple riffs to maximum effect, and any one of these first three songs you could be humming in no time.

Then, we have a switch in the entire style of the album. “Alone On The Hill” is just what this album needed and at just the right time – a slow, relaxed song to bring the album down a gear. It is similar to a slow melodic piece of The Vines’, and filled with emotion, and it goes down another gear with “Grey”. Those more keen on a rocky, jumping genre may disregard these pieces, but that’s a great thing about Inca – in five tracks we’ve had many different styles already. Rather conveniently, following on from “Grey” comes the livelier “Time For Colours”, which sits somewhere between “Alone On The Hill” and “Itchburn” and eases the listener back into a third, faster part of the album with the remaining tracks. “Scented Candle” follows, and would be a better song if perhaps it was sung with less emphasis. At times it sounds nasal, and like someone listing vowels , but otherwise is a good song. The final three tracks fill up the final section of this album – “We Can Help You” begins the section with strong drumming and strong guitar riffs. This full-rock ending is pushed on with “Philosophy In The West” and then, finally, “If I Were Beautiful”, far away from a romantic, emotional farewell, is a full rock blast to end a wonderful back and forth album.

Ten Gazillion Years is a fine fusion of different types of rock – for the rock fan who is missing an Essex-based rock quartet in their collection. Inca are planning a full UK tour, so keep those eyes peeled.

Band Members:

Joel Coote (Guitar/Vocals)
Jono Twohey (Lead Guitar/Vocals)
Matt Tatham (Bass Guitar)
James Smith (Drums)

Rating Out of 10: