Blood Incantation

Colorado's death-metal outfit Blood Incantation (vocalist and guitarist Paul Riedl, guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky, drummer Isaac Faulk and bassist Jeff Barrett) debuted with the psychedelically-tinged four-song EP Interdimensional Extinction (2015). The horror growl in The Vth Tablet is matched with a howling psychedelic guitar. Hovering Lifeless bridges brainy prog-rock and discharges of evil neurosis, including a relatively melodic coda, the first hint of a Pink Floyd influence. Subterranean Aeon is chaotic and massive but has room for a doom-y section and a ghostly drum-less coda. Combined together, these short songs constitute the blueprint for the band's futuristic death-metal to come.

Starspawn (Dark Descent, 2016) opens with the 13-minute Vitrification of Blood Part 1, their aesthetic manifesto: the guitar's strident meandering plunges into breakneck distorted guitar solos of classic rock, alternating towards the end with clean solos that are lyrical if not romantic; and and ghoulish growl exales cannibal invocations rather than a stream of words. The terrifying Hidden Species - Vitrification of Blood Part 2 is instead the peak of their "grand guignol", three songs into one: limping, epileptic and atmospheric. The instrumental Meticulous Soul Devourment is all the opposite, drawing inspiration from Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin in his most spiritual moments. The closer Starspawn ideally links back to the initial suite.

Hidden History of the Human Race (Dark Descent, 2019) is a cleaner endeavor that displays the same ideas but in a somewhat more expert manner. Slave Species of the Gods is superficially a fusion of thrash-metal, pop-metal and distorted guitar, but its intricate structure leaves behind the impression of a disorienting maze. The Giza Power Plant, that includes lightning-speed sections, ethnic intermezzos and even a spoken-word section, strikes a balance between atmosphere and chaos. The instrumental Inner Paths transitions smoothly from psychedelic sound effects to a ominous barrage of blastbeats and riffs. However impeccable the execution, the music of the first three pieces lacks passion. The fourth piece, the 18-minute Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (which in the old days would have been the entire B side of an LP), proves the point: it feels more like a deeply tortured philosophical essay (particularly when the music seems to die after six minutes and at the end) than a piece of music.

Timewave Zero (2022) was a detour into electronic cosmic music of the 1970s (two lengthy "side-long" pieces as customary back then).

The growl and the blastbeats are the only recognizable elements of death-metal on Absolute Elsewhere (2024), consisting of two "side-long" suites. A magniloquent dark melody opens The Stargate (Tablet I), which soon derails into an interlude of strings and drums leading into a romantic synth-guitar solo in full Pink Floyd style. The Stargate (Tablet II) embraces Tangerine Dream's sequencer-driven cosmic music (vintage keyboards by Thorsten Quaeschning), and then intones a folkish motif for acoustic guitar and flute before exploding into a chaotic wall of noise. The Stargate (Tablet III) stages another transition from brutal onslaught to electronic melodrama except that here the drumming remains intense (although tom-toms replace the blastbeats) and then back to brutal riffs and growls, with a final circular guitar tremor. The first movement of the second suite, The Message (Tablet I), boasts some of the most engaging riffs before the doom-y middle section and the chaotic dissonant ending. This is the peak of pathos. The Message (Tablet II), after a noisy beginning led by a hiccupping guitar, delves into a Pink Floyd-ian litany (sung in clean vocals backed by an organ), way too reminiscent of Dark Side of the Moon. The eleven-minute The Message (Tablet III) opens with fury and wrath which is soon interrupted by a flute-driven interlude (a gentle melody that evokes Simon & Garfunkel). After the interlude the piece stages a brutal crescendo of banging and strumming, a sort of distorted twisted cosmic mantra that eventually decays and ends in sounds of rainstorm. The whole is no less fascinating than the concept albums of 1970s prog-rock, but, just like those concepts, there is much that sounds amateurish and contrived.