BLOOD INCANTATION – ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE

(Andy Synn dons his sceptic hat to see whether Absolute Elsewhere is everything people say it is… or perhaps something more)

Some have said – perhaps not unreasonably – that over the years I’ve had a tendency to treat Blood Incantation a little more harshly (or, at least, be a lot less effusive with my praise) than many other writers.

It’s not that I don’t like the band by any means – I’ve reviewed them positively a number of times, in fact, and have largely enjoyed it when I’ve caught their live show (even if I’ve never been as blown away by their “Morbid Angel on mescaline” vibes as a lot of others seem to be).

It’s just that the hype – “the next big thing“, “the future of the genre“, “a paradigm shift in Progressive Death Metal“, and so on – has always (in my opinion) seemed to outstrip the music, such that with every new release it’s felt more and more like the band are trying to play catch-up to everyone else’s expectations (and demands).

But, wouldn’t you know it, it’s when the band finally stopped trying so hard (and, make no mistake, Absolute Elsewhere is the sort of introverted, art-for-art’s sake, album they absolutely needed to make) that Blood Incantation finally, and fully, caught up with all the hype around them… and then some.

A word of warning before we go any further – just as this album has already divided opinion amongst the band’s fans (I’ve seen several complaints that it’s “lacking in riffs”, which is not something I agree with but which is absolutely understandable if you were expecting a frantic “riff-salad” smorgasbord similar to their earlier work instead of a more fleshed-out, thematically focussed “Prog-Opera” which feels like the natural next step from last year’s Luminescent Bridge EP) so too will this review likely prove divisive (I’ve already seen several people praising what I think is the album’s weakest point as their favourite part of the entire thing).

But, hopefully, it will also provide some useful perspective on an album that could possibly end up alienating a not-insignificant number of the group’s existing fanbase even as it brings in a whole new audience of eclectic oddballs and weirdos… while also still leaving a fair few people sitting perplexedly on the fence.

One thing I will say is that I don’t think the band have ever sounded as charismatic (Paul Riedl in particular sounds more confident, and more authoritative, than ever) or as holistic (combining not just their obvious Morbid Angel and Pink Floyd influences but also a host of other elements from the likes of King Crimson, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Tangerine Dream – whose bandleader, Thorsten Quaeschning, appears on “Tablet II” of “The Stargate” – latter-day Death and early Cynic, into a greater, and more distinctive, whole) as they do here.

And while the roots of the group’s sound – which, by their own admission, also takes inspiration from both Demilich on one extreme and Yes on the other – are undeniably “Old School” (self-consciously “Retro”, even), what they’ve done with them doesn’t seem, to me at least, like an attempt to position themselves as some sort of “throwback” to a bygone era but rather to present themselves as an example of what might have been (exploring an alternate history, rather than a “hidden” one, you might say) had these particular styles of music developed, and interbred, differently.

Just take a listen, for example, to the way in which opening track “The Stargate [Tablet I]” evolves from its indulgently proggy, drum-driven opening to an increasingly menacing metallic build up which crescendos in a torrent of tightly-wound, laser-focussed Death Metal fury (keep an ear out for the rippling, undulating bass-work and piercing lead-guitar harmonics while you’re at it), before transitioning into an extended sequence of artsy 70s synth work and soaring melodic soloing only to climax in a bombastic barrage of hook-heavy riffs, hammering blastbeats, and haunting cosmic ambience.

It’s a complex, but not overly convoluted, arrangement that speaks volumes about the band’s confidence this time around – not just in their own ability to execute their particular vision but in their belief that theirs fans will be willing, and able, to follow them along the way – but which also feels like an organic product, and a natural hybrid, of two strikingly different (but surprisingly compatible) musical lineages, with the subsequent synth-driven freak-out of “[Tablet II]” and the, dare I say it, almost cinematic scope of the absolutely outstanding “[Tablet III]” (replete with some subtly clean vocals and an even more intricately-layered array of thundering riffs, spiralling leads, and haunting “cosmic” keys) only adding further fuel to the idea that both “The Stargate” and “The Message” are best experienced as single, discrete entities.

Of course, it isn’t perfect – while “[Tablet I]” of “The Message” is almost Mithras-like in its blending of brutal intensity and brooding melody (and thus quite possibly the best part of the album), and “[Tablet II]” suggests the band would be just as successful if they went full Prog next time, the first few minutes of “[Tablet III]” initially feel very thin (both in substance and in coherent ideas), although the introduction of some seething, almost (but not quite) Black Metal-ish riffing and an extra dash of melodic extravagance in the song’s second-half more than makes up for this early misstep and helps carry the track, and the album, to its triumphant conclusion – but then I’d argue that anything which shows this much ambition and disregard for the regular rules shouldn’t be perfect.

After all, another word for “perfection” is “stagnation”… and that’s not what Blood Incantation are about.

Even so, I’m still not sure how you, dear reader, are going to react to this album – as I’ve alluded to, it’s clearly not an album made for the fans (unless those fans happen to share the exact same loves and inspirations as the group themselves) – I just know that, as someone who has long been critical of the band’s music (without necessarily blaming the band themselves) for not living up to the hype, I’m happy to say that on Absolute Elsewhere have they have finally become what they’ve always promised to be.