Blood Incantation brings ‘Absolute Elsewhere’ to NYC

By the time Blood Incantation struck the final note, allowing me to gently touch down back to Brooklyn soil, I was a shell filled with the immeasurable knowledge of nothingness; a five dimensional being of pure light, striking every surface in my eclipse to create the singular understanding shared among me and all other Passengers: we had been to Absolute Elsewhere.

If this sentence doesn’t make sense to you then you need to find a way to see Blood Incantation on this tour as soon as you possibly can. Only once you’ve heard the album from beginning to end can you possibly understand. I can say this with total confidence that on November 26th, 2024, 750 people and I witnessed something that was not of this world at Elsewhere Hall in Brooklyn. We had been taken on a journey across time and space, our faces perfectly melted and our consciousness summarily rearranged, now able to comprehend realms previously unknown.

Okay I’m done writing like that, but you have to believe me when I say that Colorado quartet Blood Incantation have crafted a crowning achievement in the history of death metal (or prog metal, or whatever genre you want to use). With two already highly regarded releases behind them, 2016’s Starspawn and 2019’s Hidden History of the Human Race, the band had duly earned the right to force fans to wait until they were damn good and ready to release something new. Despite all respect garnered, the band didn’t force fans to wait out in the cold for too long, releasing the highly anticipated, if not divisive purely ambient Timewave Zero.

With over 40 minutes of gorgeously arranged vintage synth, the album is an incredible study of how to craft an environment of pure vibe. But, death metal it was not. Despite my personal regard for this album, it was referred to as “one of the least appealing stylistic shifts I can imagine from a death metal band” by one Angry Metal Guy. However, metal fans rejoiced throughout the world of death metal when Blood Incantation released a 2 song 12-inch maxi single in 2023, Luminescent Bridge. Clocking in at eighteen and a half minutes (again, this is two songs), the band delivered a much needed injection of double bass, triplets, and growls on Side A with “Obliquity of the Ecliptic,” all before dropping back into more atmospheric synth worship with “Luminescent Bridge” as the B Side. What would Blood Incantation do next? The answer came at the end of the summer with the perfect synthesis of all their sound into the incredibly unique Absolute Elsewhere.

I want to stress something extremely important — I truly believe that Blood Incantation don’t give a shit what we want, and we are so incredibly lucky that they deliver time and time again. Case in point was having the absolutely amazing Madeline Elizabeth Johnston open with her solo act, Midwife. Midwife is an incredibly unique outfit, playing a genre dubbed heaven metal, in which she plays a Stratocaster deliciously and unpredictably manipulated through magic (EG. a perfectly built pedal board). Her vocals are heavily influenced by similar effects, often to the effect that she’s speaking to you from the heavens. She’s toured with Deafheaven and a host of other heavies, but this was not what you expect at a death metal show. I thought it worked beautifully to a sold out Elsewhere Hall where hundreds of metalheads, prog lovers, and visitors from planets uncontacted (maybe Long Island?) sat captivated. For her last song she requested the disco ball be activated, casting the entire venue in a golden hue, her voice ringing out among the souls. Thank you, Blood Incantation, for introducing us to this heavenly influence, and thank you, Midwife, for gracing us with your presence.

With the crowd sufficiently entranced, Blood Incantation wasted no time preparing for lift off. Clad entirely in black, the boys scurried between the pillars on stage, fine tuning their intergalactic vessels for the journey ahead. Wait, I’m sorry, I haven’t even mentioned the TWO MASSIVE OBELISKS framing the entire scene from the very beginning. If you’re a fan you won’t be surprised for me to tell you that the pillars brought everything we expect from our starbound Denverites: cuneiform etched into stone, some of which blazed in a deep red, all of which leads the eyes to a base where an interstellar newborn holding galaxies in it’s tiny hands stared back at you. If you’re completely new to Blood Incantation then let this be your last warning that there will be no further explanations. You need to see them perform to understand it.

And see them perform we did. Absolute Elsewhere is 43 minutes of enthralling music, and to see every section of the “The Stargate” and the “The Message” unfold was absolutely beautiful. If you didn’t like Timewave Zero, but you are a fan of Absolute Elsewhere, I highly encourage you to go back and listen to the former again. The entirety of Absolute Elsewhere is the perfect elision of all the unique pieces Blood Incantation had presented to us prior to this album. Watching lead singer Paul Riedl trade off solo with fellow guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky was remarkable, it hardly ever being clear how they came into such perfect sync. Riedl is well known for his ‘skullet’ (I loved seeing the skeleton at the merch table with a “Bald Incantation” sticker), and to see him bent over his BC Rich explorer, his hair a flurry amidst the singularity of his dome was such a treat. Kolontyrsky’s face contorted into shapes that can only be described as a man possessed by the power of the squealing notes he was producing.

Knowing that they play this album night after night yet are still able to emit this much joy in music was nothing short of inspiring. Bassist Jeff Barret was much more subdued on stage but no further from the event horizon we were all collectively hurtling toward. His beautiful red hair bobbing to the rhythm I couldn’t help but wonder when the last time I saw a bassist play an entire set without a pick. That not only speaks wonders to the skill of this band, but the perfection of their sound design. Drummer Isaac Faulk, also of black metal cowboy legends Wayfarer, delivered some of the best fills of the past decade while Nicklas Malmqvist of Hällas brought the entire ambient sound together with his expertly crafted synth. The entire experience of entering “The Stargate” was over before I was ready for it, but I think these metalheads from The West knew exactly what the crowd wanted for their encore: the “Obliquity of the Ecliptic.” To see Paul so perfectly alternate between the growls and spoken section throughout the night was amazing, especially on this track. This single truly was a sign of what we were to expect for the full length. But I was hardly prepared to see it live, and I’ll never be the same again.

Check out live photos of Blood Incantation performing at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere, captured by Adam Schwartz, in the gallery below. For upcoming tour dates, click here.

Blood Incantation:

Blood Incantation setlist:
The Stargate [Tablet I]
The Stargate [Tablet II]
The Stargate [Tablet III]
The Message [Tablet I]
The Message [Tablet II]
The Message [Tablet III]
Inner Paths (to Outer Space)
Obliquity of the Ecliptic

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