Rocker (feedbot)
Platinum Member
Blood Incantation take to a stage that is bookended by large obelisks. These frame a neat arrangement of beefy amplifiers, synthesisers and, amongst other assortments, a gong. Behind them are the Albert Hall’s non-operational organ pipes. They remain from when the venue was once a Wesleyan chapel, adding to the striking scenery. It’s a setting that looks more suitable for a Pink Floyd performance than a metal gig.
And at times, the evening sounds like Pink Floyd too. The Denver band’s most recent album ‘Absolute Elsewhere’, released in 2024, saw Blood Incantation decamp to Berlin’s Hansa studios – which boasts David Bowie, Depeche Mode and U2 as its graduates – hire €9000 worth of synthesizer equipment, and deftly insert the otherworldly qualities of progressive rock into the chug of death metal. The result; a gateway into extreme metal for the uninitiated and a portal into another dimension for the rest.
Indebted to their studio surroundings, the album even features Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning. It follows, then, that Blood Incantation’s arrival to the stage is proceeded by Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator” – the metronomic krautrock futurism being an appropriate precursor to what follows; a performance of ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ in full. The reproduction is authentic and largely unaltered, but its impact is transcendent.
Bathed in swathes of purple and yellow light, the band launch into the first of the album’s two songs (each of which is divided into three parts, or “Tablets” as they are known). Much of the music is typical of the death metal genre; palm-muted riffs and ferocious blast beats provoke raised fists and head banging. But digressions into psychedelic rock and luscious synth-led passages replace the visceral with the introspective. In these moments, the band are obscured by bursts of pastel blues and greens. The stage appears swamped in extra-terrestrial light, as if in preparation for an ascent into an alien spaceship. Is it hyperbolic to speculate? After all, ELO were known for performing alongside a replica spacecraft; who’s to say that Blood Incantation don’t perform from within the real thing?
Midway through the album, vocalist Paul Riedl – whose speaking voice is even deeper than his guttural growls – asks for the record to be turned over. “Please would you drop the needle kindly” he says, as if the act is required to re-fuel the engine that powers Blood Incantation’s inter-dimensional musings.
In addition to ‘Absolute Elsewhere’, the band briefly return to their 2019 album, ‘Hidden History of the Human Race’. Described tonight by Riedl as “not a terrible album”, ‘Hidden History’ is a more confrontational listen, as demonstrated by a comparatively bullish rendition of ‘The Giza Power Plant’. Featuring multiple phases and jagged riffs, it is more demanding on the audience, but is nonetheless greeted like a beloved memory. Likewise, a finale of ‘The Obliquity of the Ecliptic’ is received with equal fervour.
But for all the technical proficiency delivered throughout these closing moments, ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ is why an audience of this size is here. While not a strict death metal album, it is an extraordinary feat for a band like Blood Incantation to perform at venues of this size. And a full rendition of one of modern metal’s most audacious projects further cements what has been a landmark moment for both the band themselves, and the genre at large.
BEN WILLIAMS
And at times, the evening sounds like Pink Floyd too. The Denver band’s most recent album ‘Absolute Elsewhere’, released in 2024, saw Blood Incantation decamp to Berlin’s Hansa studios – which boasts David Bowie, Depeche Mode and U2 as its graduates – hire €9000 worth of synthesizer equipment, and deftly insert the otherworldly qualities of progressive rock into the chug of death metal. The result; a gateway into extreme metal for the uninitiated and a portal into another dimension for the rest.
Indebted to their studio surroundings, the album even features Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning. It follows, then, that Blood Incantation’s arrival to the stage is proceeded by Kraftwerk’s “Pocket Calculator” – the metronomic krautrock futurism being an appropriate precursor to what follows; a performance of ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ in full. The reproduction is authentic and largely unaltered, but its impact is transcendent.
Bathed in swathes of purple and yellow light, the band launch into the first of the album’s two songs (each of which is divided into three parts, or “Tablets” as they are known). Much of the music is typical of the death metal genre; palm-muted riffs and ferocious blast beats provoke raised fists and head banging. But digressions into psychedelic rock and luscious synth-led passages replace the visceral with the introspective. In these moments, the band are obscured by bursts of pastel blues and greens. The stage appears swamped in extra-terrestrial light, as if in preparation for an ascent into an alien spaceship. Is it hyperbolic to speculate? After all, ELO were known for performing alongside a replica spacecraft; who’s to say that Blood Incantation don’t perform from within the real thing?
Midway through the album, vocalist Paul Riedl – whose speaking voice is even deeper than his guttural growls – asks for the record to be turned over. “Please would you drop the needle kindly” he says, as if the act is required to re-fuel the engine that powers Blood Incantation’s inter-dimensional musings.
In addition to ‘Absolute Elsewhere’, the band briefly return to their 2019 album, ‘Hidden History of the Human Race’. Described tonight by Riedl as “not a terrible album”, ‘Hidden History’ is a more confrontational listen, as demonstrated by a comparatively bullish rendition of ‘The Giza Power Plant’. Featuring multiple phases and jagged riffs, it is more demanding on the audience, but is nonetheless greeted like a beloved memory. Likewise, a finale of ‘The Obliquity of the Ecliptic’ is received with equal fervour.
But for all the technical proficiency delivered throughout these closing moments, ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ is why an audience of this size is here. While not a strict death metal album, it is an extraordinary feat for a band like Blood Incantation to perform at venues of this size. And a full rendition of one of modern metal’s most audacious projects further cements what has been a landmark moment for both the band themselves, and the genre at large.
BEN WILLIAMS