Inca Babies: Reincarnation (Black Lagoon Records)
CD | DL
Rel Date: 28th November 2025

Inca Babies initially crawled from the Hulme Crescents some 42 years ago – their snarling debut single, The Interior was released via the bands own Black Lagoon Records, and now four decades later the label has offered up Reincanation an album that is described as a collection of select Inca Babies tracks, re-recorded, re-invented and reincarnated for 2025. With nine albums to select from its fair to say the band had a rich vein to mine. Whilst regularly being tagged with the swagger of The Cramps, the gnarled blues of The Birthday Party, and The Gun Club its accurate to describe the Inca Babies as having forged their own chaotic path, a path that weaves between the genres and with this collection of twelve tracks they have continued on this journey.

Candy Mountain first appeared on the album, This Train… back in 1986, a bass driven gem that has been re-shaped whilst retaining its core drive but now with electronic pulses and a cleaner guitar sound, all the while Stafford’s voice, with the benefit of maturity comes at you from another plane. Busters On Fire has been a staple in the bands live set for many years, initially released on the German Constrictor label as a limited edition 7” on violet coloured vinyl in 1987 – interestingly Stafford himself has previously stated “I wish I had spent a little more time in the studio with this as it does seem a little half cocked. I remember leaving the producer to just get on with it while I chased skirt or demi-dragons.” Personally I always appreciated the forthright approach of the track, its arguably the bands (then) most accessible track as it aligned itself with a singular rock groove, yes the Incas signature torched blues were stripped back but that allowed it to enflame many a dancefloor al those years ago; this reworking has refined the original producers direction – Stafford has finally spent the time on the track, and it benefits greatly – the bass pummels, complimented by an expanded drum pallet, scratched guitars blur proceedings, as Stafford delivers the lyric with a new urgency; this is the Inca Babies getting into their groove.

Daniella is another from the This Train… album, the original was a stark angular track that contorted itself around a predatory bass, Stafford delivering a typically stabbed vocal, here through the track has been very successfully taken into a new dub direction courtesy of the studio wizardry of producer Ding Archer – the cavernous bass, drummer Rob Haynes riding the rims whilst shards of guitar shatter lighting the path for the heavily reverbed vocal.

Two Rails To Nowhere first saw the light of day within the Evil Hour collection, the final album from the bands initial line-up, albeit they had brought in Clint Boon to add keyboards – which at the time I recall many considering almost an act of heresy; the 2025 reimagining has seen the desired aims of the band finally realised, it retains its purpose but the band now have the tools to reach their target, the track builds around a repeated guitar riff, its expansive, almost widescreen in a sort of Mazzy Star fashion whilst the simple bass keeps you focussed, similarly the always slow death march of Jericho has been held intact whilst the dubbed studio effects sparkle, a snare that shimmers into the distance and the glistening guitar being particularly evocative.

Phantom Track fast forwards us 2010’s Death Message Blues album; the first recordings from the then reformed band, yet with enough cloying darkness to sit comfortably within the Inca Babies catalogue – what we are presented with here is arguably the least reimagined track, this is more of a remix, it certainly benefits from the advanced production, the clarity of the music and the placing of Stafford’s vocal, and the guitar squall that brings it to a glorious close. Devil In My Room initially appeared on the Opium Den mini album released in 1987, the album saw a change in direction for the band, Stafford now solely responsible for the vocals following the departure of Mike Kebble; things continued in a dust blown western direction and that remains evident here, and like Two Rails benefits from the input of Ding Archer, similarly with Thirst from the same initial release – that sun battered vibe permeates through driven by an almost marched drum. Remaining within the modern Inca’s realm we are treated to Superior Spectre, a song that came out as the B-Side to 2014’s Record Store Day 12” single Scatter; as such its fair to describe it as an obscure track, but whether a remix was required I’m not convinced, the original had a more dominant bass and thrashed and squirmed in suitable disorientating fashion, the version presented here seems too clean.

Cowboy Song brings things in an almost full circle, returning us to the bands third single The Judge, albeit only the 12” version which was self-released in 1984, this has all the clatter, the menace that established the Inca Babies in the first place, but with hints of some stomping glam buried within the bubbling gloom; this reworking his heightened this tension, whilst injecting some clarity into the proceedings.

Reincarnation is definitely more than an interesting experiment, its clear the band have carefully considered which tracks to revisit, they avoided the potentially easy option of reworking their best-known material, and listening comparatively certainly afforded me the pleasure of revisiting their entire back catalogue. They have been able to craft a complete album, it transcends the compilation tag, and is worthy of investigation. But, what we really want is a new album!

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The Louder Than War Records shop is currently stocking previous Inca Babies albums plus solo releases from frontman Harry Stafford.

Inca Babies: Reincarnation – album review