Blood Incantation return with a genre smashing new album that will go down in history as one of the greatest metal records, ever. It’s a bold statement befitting of Absolute Elsewhere.

Released: October 4th 2024

Label: Century Media

Format: CD / Artbook with Blu-ray / Vinyl / Digital

THE STARGATE

Opening with a gradual ramping up of tension, Absolute Elsewhere (named after the 70’s prog collective of the same name) sets off on it’s incredible journey. An early blackened death blast catapults Tablet I of Stargate into orbit. Although the opening salvo is savage, when you reach that point of what feels like a loss of gravity, Blood Incantation let their proggier side take over. A groove that would have fitted onto an early 70’s Floyd record consumes and comforts. This cosmic journey is only just beginning.

Before long, the shredding guitars burst into life again with absolutely terrific drumming. Guttural vocals adorn many of the heavy segments in each composition. Tempos shift from fire and fury to standard chugging riffs. There is so much going on in the early strains of Absolute Elsewhere that every single second demands your attention.

As Tablet II opens, the progressive influences flourish again. Spoken word samples of the otherworldly nature play out above a trance like electronic strain which features Thorsten Quaesching of Tangerine Dream. It swirls and twinkles giving way to an acoustic led passage that harks back to Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds hit, Forever Autumn (minus the vocals). To continuously keep the listener guessing, the band cave in any sense of calm with another crushing section.

Tablet III gallops out of the maelstrom created at the end of Tablet II. Some of the swirling synths are reminiscent of latter day Nick Cave work with Warren Ellis. Lead guitars dominate the final portion of Stargate, atop a punishingly heavy bed of guitars and drums.

THE MESSAGE

Side two opens with a lighter lead line before the heaviness catches up with it. A more orthodox death metal sound overtakes the light opening as the two styles joust alongside each other. Solo guitars fly off the main body as the music flits in all directions. Unease is key in creating the atmosphere here. It is here where Blood Incantation sound like a more traditional death metal band.

Tablet II switches up a little with a rolling bass line that rumbles in the doldrums of the mix. Harmonized vocals coalesce around more incredible drum work. Whilst everything is delivered with precision, the loose feeling of the band jamming this out can also be felt. Like The Stargate, Tablet II breaks down into a classic slice of 70’s prog. Vocals here could be mistaken for that of David Gilmour. Moving between the clean and the guttural vocals put another dent on the genre box that Blood Incantation seek to destroy.

As Tablet II heads to its conclusion, the opening of Tablet III is blistering. It is gung-ho in its delivery and one that sees Blood Incantation really show off their metal credentials. Another beautiful sequence follows with oboe like synths providing melody. True to form, any repose is short lived as the band come back in with more ire. The crescendo of Absolute Elsewhere builds emphatically as the music subsides, and the waters of which ever planet you land on, wash over you.

Absolute Elsewhere is our most potent audial extract/musical trip yet; like the soundtrack to a Herzog-style Sci-Fi epic about the history of/battle for human consciousness itself, via a 70s Prog album played by a 90s Death Metal band from the future.

Paul Riedl – Blood Incantation

A GAME CHANGER

Produced by Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Spectral Voice, Kreator, Wayfarer, Sumerlands, etc), and recorded at fabled Berlin studio, Hansa Tonstudio, Absolute Elsewhere is a hulking triumph of a record. The spirits of Tangerine Dream, Tom G Warrior and Brian Eno pervades (all of which recorded at Hansa). Cosmically, sonically and aesthetically, this record will go down on the annals of history as one of the greatest metal albums of all time. Absolute Elsewhere is a genuine game changer. This Colorado band set a new benchmark for progressive heavy metal with their open minded approach to music.

Check out the short film for The Stargate, below.

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