Blood Incantation's fourth album, Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media), has been getting a ton of attention since it was released in October, and with good reason: it's equally awe-inspiring and groundbreaking. The Denver-based band had already generated some crossover buzz with their second record, 2019's Hidden History of the Human Race, which blended classic, pummeling, American-style death metal and far-out psychedelic rock with freaky arrangements and spaced-out sitar. In 2022 they threw their fans a curveball with their follow-up, Timewave Zero, which stepped away from metal into Krautrock and ambient synths.
Absolute Elsewhere takes all of Blood Incantation's previous feats and blends them together. Mind-bending blastbeats and death-metal riffs take left turns into traditional Middle Eastern scales, space-organ drone a la Pink Floyd, epic chord progressions that could make Genesis proud, and genuine kosmische synth breaks provided by Thorsten Quaeschning of Tangerine Dream. On paper, it shouldn't work: Why doesn't a hard-stop transition from grindcore guitar into mellow, meditative vocals sound like one of Mr. Bungle's goofiest moments?
I'll admit, here and there the experimentation does startle me, coming across as clumsy genre smashing, but overall Blood Incantation have put this record together expertly -- I can't help but be impressed by the respect, care, and love they display for the roots of the styles they explore. Absolute Elsewhere more than lives up to the hype; it's a work of brutal and beautiful grandeur by a band at the height of their powers. If you've been sleeping on it, you need to change that now -- and head to this Metro show to witness the band pull it off live.