Blood Incantation have forever been the nerdy, brutal darlings of the metal community. Every website and magazine (well Decibel, anyway – are there any print zines left?) fawned over the PR emphasizing the analog recording of debut full length Starspawn, and once Hidden Histories OF The Human Race came out in 2019 it was official: no one made music like this, and the mighty BI were tops in everyone’s books. My take? That “analog” production did less than nothing to bolster whatever chops the band had in both the playing and songwriting departments. Good as those albums may have been, I barely listened once the initial fanfare died down. And then came Absolute Elsewhere, and the newly crowned god of metal production, Arthur Rizk. Uh, folks? That metal community just might be right about this whole Blood Incantation thing…

In case it wasn’t obvious the intro was a little tongue-in-cheek (a little). I really liked Hidden Histories Of The Human Race, but I also was really fatigued by the production and it did go away after a while. And I loved the fact the band was taking this cache and running with it, exploring all kinds of progressive and psychedelic side roads in their music. Even if I don’t connect to 2022’s Timewave Zero, I respect the hell out of it, especially as a Tangerine Dream fan. But both that and last year’s Luminescent Bridge single/EP felt like a warm-up for what Absolute Elsewhere brings to the table here. Two sprawling tracks, each a suite comprised of three parts that lays bare its influences without shame or trying to fold it somewhere it doesn’t fit. Lyrically and conceptually Blood Incantation continue to mine 70s SF and psychedelic vision voyages, but now with Rizk (and over $9k in additional synths) it truly sounds like a swirling trip through the cosmos, instead of a modern death metal band emulating their heroes.

It starts with the three-part “The Stargate” which coincidentally is also the phrase my friend and I use when we indulge in, uh, higher pursuits (he also calls it taking his jazz candy). Part 1 starts out with one of their best progressive metal riffs yet, and vocalist/guitarist Paul Riedl sounds positively possessed – until it quickly veers into complete and utter Pink Floyd worship. I’ve recently been getting into live bootlegs and I’ve listened to enough shows from the early 70s now (seriously, listen to the amazing shows from Wembley in Nov 1974) that the whole middle section of Part 1 could be a improv jam in the middle of “Raving and Drooling”. That solo tone is crying to go home to David Gilmour in the best way before it returns to the original death metal theme.

Part 2 wears its influence even more brazenly on its sleeve, being almost entirely synth driven and with no less than Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream on keyboards. The metal soon takes back over, bleeding into the end of Part 2 and rising in intensity for all of Part 3 where things really take a turn toward chaotic psychedelia with the guitar solos between Reidl and Morris Kolontyrsky. Thoughout it all Isaac Faulk’s drumming (and Jesus there’s a guy whose name should be on everyone’s list of the best metal drummers) and bassist Jeff Barrett are free to explore every corner and crevice of the rhythm.

As great as “The Stargate” is, I think I actually like “The Message” more. It opens with some truly righteous pick slides and open chords that are in a major key – taboo for death metal! The sense of uplifting progressive rock doesn’t last for long as Blood Incantation quickly dive deep into the gnarled death metal they perfected on Hidden Histories, occasionally coming up for air with clean guitars and soaring solos. I’ve always clamored for more guitar heroics in extreme metal, and it seems Blood Incantation got the message loud and clear. Tempos shift under your feet, keyboards become more ominous and it gets murky real fast before Part 2 pulses and grooves with a stellar progressive rock pattern. It’s as if, having entered the Stargate they’ve become their own, embodying all their influences in a new form, one that is distinctly theirs. Is that “The Message” to learn? To be unafraid to copy, to absorb because ultimately you’ll make it your own?

Well, except for the vocal section that 1000% (especially with the chord changes behind it) mimics Gilmour’s unique voice and cadence.

Part 3 of “The Message” is perhaps the most ambitious song Blood Incantation have ever executed, whipping back and forth between everything that has come before. It makes for a thrilling conclusion, and firmly cements Absolute Elsewhere as one of my favorite metal records of this or any year.