The rules are something that Blood Incantation have never really cared about and on Absolute Elsewhere, all semblance of conformity is shed and replaced with bold experimentation.
Release date: October 4, 2024 | Century Media | Instagram | Facebook | Buy/Stream
When Blood Incantation announced this new record, fans of the band were wondering which side of the band would show through more: the death metal, or the astral kosmische that they love so dear. The answer is a complicated one to and certainly not the full story, so I recruited fellow writer Iain to help me unpack this new mammoth from one of our favorite bands. Enjoy!
Jake: It’s time for a new Blood Incantation album and beside the excitement that alone brings me, I get to talk about the new record with you. I remember seeing this album appear in our list and I thought, “Yeah, Iain and I should review this one together.” I had no idea how great of an idea that would be at the time, but we’ll get into that later. So, to kick things off, what are your initial thoughts about all of this?
Iain: I think I actually hesitated slightly when I saw the album on the list because I felt like you should have first dibs, but I’m stoked to co-review Absolute Elsewhere! Without giving too much of the plot away early, I’ve been a fan of Blood Incantation probably since Starspawn came out way back in 2015. I’ve loved all their works so far, and think they’ve always deserved the hype they’ve earned, but this album has left me surprised in a pretty big way.
J: Haha, I get that hesitation but yeah I think this is a match made in heaven, in a variety of ways. And I have also been a fan of this band since around then as well and while I do love Starspawn, I probably love Hidden History of the Human Race just a smidge more. But I think we both know that this band is already a little divisive due to that Timewave Zero album that was instrumental space ambiance. But of all of the bands that would do this sort of thing, I at least felt like this is a place where they were headed for a while and that sort of basically brings us to Absolute Elsewhere. The anticipation is feeling pretty palpable for this one. So let’s get into it. Let’s talk about the first listen, you go first.
I: Would it be melodramatic to say the first listen was revelatory? I’ll agree with you, I’m not surprised that Blood Incantation ended up where they are. Their love for prog is well documented, and showed through even on their most purely metal works. But stars above, they swung for the fences here. A full 43 minute album with just two tracks, which throws a curveball within the first three minutes by way of a dub break? I’ve never felt like Blood Incantation weren’t confident about who they were before, but they are BOLD on this album. I’d argue it feels more like a prog album that happens to be very metal than a proggy death metal album, and I love that.
J: I’ll let the readers soak up that part about the dub breakdown for a second haha. Yeah I think that confidence is exactly the word that comes to mind here. I had the album for about a week before I was able press play on it because I knew it was going to be a helluva ride that I didn’t want any distractions from. When I did get it going I was immediately shocked at how strong it was from the jump with some of the most ferocious sounding metal that they had created. Then of course the curveballs kept coming and I was like a stun-locked rookie hitter at the plate with a seasoned pitcher on the mound throwing all sorts of stuff at me and all I could do was watch it go by and wonder what was gonna happen next.
I: I do admire that restraint, because I’m pretty sure I had it playing my very next drive to work. Upsides of a long commute, right? It really is impressive how many different ideas Blood Incantation rolls through on this album, and the way they’re prone to change modes on a dime makes it a total roller coaster (insert Space Mountain joke) of a listen. Off the bat, it feels like “The Stargate” sums up the entirety of their career to this point into a single track, and that’s no small feat. The Morbid Angel-fueled weirdo riffwork, krautrock synth stretches, Gilmour-esque guitar solos, and even a stretch of Egyptian vibes that would make Nile proud. The fact that they can pull that off and even work new tricks into one song is remarkable.
J: Couldn’t agree more. The A-Side is the one that seems to serve as the portal, the entrance to where they are headed on the B-side (more about that in a bit I’m sure) but even so the nimbleness with which they slide into different lanes on this mammoth composition is still jarringly smooth. I hope this doesn’t come off as dismissive, but to me it was very much like falling asleep watching late night TV infomercials where every few seconds of consciousness is greeted with a new sound, disparate from the previous one but smoothly dovetails into the next one. It’s much smarter than this, however. The initial burst of riffs are like the rockets that fire to get the craft into flight and you can feel the journey that is sort of being charted with all of these changes. I’m not certain how you feel, but for me at least this first side is pretty damn flawless.
I: I completely agree that it feels like Side A acts as sort of a, well, gate between their past and what Side B offers. Every element they’ve had has been placed into just the right configuration on that song, and it’s amazing how fast the twenty minutes that make up that track goes by. I guess it could be seen as a flaw that it’s easy to lose the plot if you’re not locked in, but if someone’s putting on this album, it’s probably not just for a casual spin. The flow feels intuitive even when the sonic jumps are massive, like those aforementioned starting riffs dropping into that sparse, spacey break like they’ve left the atmosphere entirely. If “The Stargate” had dropped as just one song, it probably would be my favorite thing Blood Incantation has done with their career so far. But, of course, it’s not alone…
J: Yes, “The Message” which I assume is the communique from the other side of the gate is where things get even more interesting in a lot of ways. The riffs change, the tempos vary, and well this is the side where I do have a couple of tiny qualms, more on those in a bit though. But from the very first note of the B-side, there are a lot of changes in approach and it becomes quickly obvious that Blood Incantation love their 70’s prog rock. That being said the prog rock passages pop extremely well amidst all of the death metal that is going on. I think its important that I don’t undersell just how much great death metal is on this record including “The Message” and the dynamic interplay between these two ideas is arguably smoother than the A-side for my money.
I: It would probably be fair to say that “The Message” is the reason both of us got really curious about how people would respond to Absolute Elsewhere as a whole. You’re totally right, it feels like a paradigm shift for the band, where suddenly my reference points were changing in ways I didn’t expect in the slightest. Suddenly, Blood Incantation was reminding me more of the proggier works of Enslaved, or even Lykathea Aflame (tell me that clean guitar over pulsing double bass doesn’t feel like a spiritual successor to “Flowering Entities”). Have they used slam riffs before? Or straight up speed metal? And you’re right, the 70’s prog shines through so much brighter on this side, including more Pink Floyd influence than you can shake a stick at. I, for one, adore it as a guy whose love for prog predates his love for metal. Like, “The Stargate” was their sound perfected, but “The Message” might be what pushes Blood Incantation a lot further in my estimation. But I’m sure it’s not going to land that perfectly for everyone, yourself included it sounds like?
J: Correct, but maybe not for the reasons that one would suspect. I have a decent amount of love for prog rock and the specific brand that Blood Incantation are plying here, but for me it feels at times a little less influenced and straight up copied. That’s it, that’s my only real problem with it. It makes sense for them as a band and they do that sound so perfect that I’m certain that if someone were to just walk in during one of these segments without hearing what it was couched in, they’d swear it was some lost Pink Floyd recordings. So now that my gripe with that is out of the way, have you found any issues with Absolute Elsewhere?
I: That’s a totally fair point of issue. And not to really challenge your point, but I do feel like prog as a whole does suffer that problem a lot, where even the best newer bands sometimes feel too close to whatever, say, Yes was doing fifty years ago. It makes for a lot of warm nostalgia coming from bands I’m only just hearing, but it does split the line between progressive and just prog. It didn’t shake me too much for Absolute Elsewhere, but it’s a very valid criticism. As for my own gripes, if anything, I sometimes feel like some ideas are rushed out the door a little faster than I would like. The fact that those cool krautrock synths only come up in earnest part way into “The Stargate” and never really emerge again, for instance, isn’t my favorite thing. I guess that means my big problem is that an album with two twenty minute songs could have run even longer, and that isn’t exactly going to be a stumbling block for most people. Blood Incantation could have gone hog wild and written Tales from Topographic Cosmos, and I’d probably adore it. For what’s going on here, it feels pretty perfectly crafted for a balance of challenge and accessibility, and I can’t say there’s much that bugs me. I’m genuinely impressed, even by a band I always knew to be adventurous.
J: I’m not surprised that you feel this way, honestly. There’s no denying that Blood Incantation have always played well outside of the lines but this is a huge swing on their part bringing in all sorts of ideas that feel pretty potent, well thought out, and compositionally speaking, artfully crafted. It’s damn impressive. The best part about this for me is that it still feels that way after multiple listens. I think the last thing that I have to say here is more of a suggestion to the listener. Before you jump into Absolute Elsewhere, listen to the Blood Incantation catalog. I think it will bring into focus that this record isn’t a left field surprise as much as it is the inevitable result of where they’ve been heading for years. What say you Iain, any final thoughts?
I: Your suggestion is spot on. Blood Incantation has been building to this point their whole career, bit by bit, and it feels like Absolute Elsewhere stands as the album they were destined to make at some point. Everything they’ve done yet has led up to “The Stargate”, and I’m thrilled at the prospects of what “The Message” could lead to. I always liked how Blood Incantation felt more like an unearthed old death metal band that was just too ahead of their time than a modern band looking at the past through some weird filter. They still kind of feel like that, but with the upped production clarity and sheer disregard for genre convention, I feel like they’re actively spearheading something fresh and exciting here even if no individual element stands out as wholly unique. It’s the sum experience that stands out, and it feels like this album is as stunning a display for 2024 as Afterbirth’s last was for 2023. They’ve mastered their own past, but I’m even more stoked to watch their future unfold.
