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…