“A step through doorways of unearthly beauty.”
A two-song album? A fever dream for most modern-day attention spans. There’s only one glaring issue in this case; you are listening to the new Blood Incantation album. But don’t fret. Sit back, take a deep breath, lay down perhaps, and maybe even consume psychedelics to some capacity or another. You will thank me later as this forty-minute, progressively strung together odyssey into the infinitely vast cosmos of the human consciousness commences. Absolute Elsewhere makes a strong case for not only one of the best prog-death releases in recent memory but is also arguably the Denver quartet’s strongest record to date.
Bifurcated into two, three-part spiritualistic passages, Absolute Elsewhere begins with “The Stargate”. Twenty minutes of synth-laden, Pink Floyd-akin elements in the form of progressive death metal continue to remind listeners of Blood Incantation’s unparalleled ability to find (and evince) allure in an otherwise traditionally violent genre. Though the journey is far from over, “The Stargate” is enough to captivate even the most nihilistic of individuals by sheer effectiveness of genre cross-pollination alone.
“The Message” provides the latter half and closing part of Blood Incantation’s allegorical crusade through the prog-death event horizon. Even more meticulously crafted and executed than “The Stargate”, the last twenty-three minutes of Blood Incantation’s beautifully melded epic transcends progressive death metal conventions. The stellar voyage ends just as it began, with 60s and 70s rock influence omnipresent amongst synth-backed brutality.
Those who were taken aback by Blood Incantation’s 2022, synth-exclusive monolith Timewave Zero will find the band returning to their extramundane roots in Absolute Elsewhere. Blood Incantation has fully honed their unique sound and craft on Absolute Elsewhere in a psychotropic manner that will leave listeners in a forty-three-minute trance longing for more from this masterpiece.
9/10
Absolute Elsewhere releases October 4th through Century Media and you can pre-order it here.