BLOOD INCANTATION

It was an event that cheered the soul. BLOOD INCANTATION released their third album in 2024. It was called "Absolute Elsewhere" and it was utterly fucking mind-blowing. A death metal band possessed by the spirit of progressive rock, the Colorado quartet are making music that both defies categorization and leans into many of metal and prog scene's most revered sounds, styles and secrets. Somewhat against expectations, "Absolute Elsewhere" was rapturously received by just about everybody who heard it. Few records in recent memory have been showered with as many plaudits and as much frothing praise. A certified modern classic, it has propelled its creators to a hitherto implausible level of prominence and popularity, albeit still within the realms of barbarous but avowedly creative extreme metal.

One reason why BLOOD INCANTATION have accrued new admirers with such ferocious ease is that their artistic fearlessness is matched by these four musicians' humility, honesty and self-evident enthusiasm for the creative process. All of that was on display during "All Gates Open": a multi-part documentary recounting the recording sessions for "Absolute Elsewhere", which took place at Hansa Studios in Berlin in the summer of 2023. An extremely entertaining account of the meticulous nurturing of the album's fine details, its underlying philosophy, and the various cameos and guest contributions that enabled the quartet to reach their goals (a star turn from TANGERINE DREAM's Thorsten Quaeschning included),this YouTube treasure trove now has its own stand-alone soundtrack. Admittedly, even the most ardent BLOOD INCANTATION fans may struggle to pick out the music contained within "All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" from the documentary itself, but it is definitely there. Ambient, instrumental, predominantly textural and entirely unobtrusive, it bubbles and breathes underneath interviews and snapshots of the band beavering away in the studio, creating an atmosphere of otherworldly warmth and ephemeral weirdness, perfectly suited to the occasion. Now released in their mind-expanding entirety, these four, extended, freeform psychedelic jams are not intended to be treated as a new album, but as an essential jigsaw piece to complete the "Absolute Elsewhere" story. Far be it from me to encourage the use of soft drugs, but a few bong hits before entering into this strange, floating world of sound certainly won't do any harm.

"All Gates Open" is not without precedent, of course. BLOOD INCANTATION have already dabbled in instrumental, krautrock-influenced psychedelia on 2022's "Timewave Zero", a meandering, space rock precursor to "Absolute…" and a strong indication that the band were becoming less tightly tethered to the uproarious death metal of their earlier releases. "All Gates Open" is a much mellower and less hallucinatory affair than "Timewave Zero", but it exists in the same blissed-out, gently lysergic wheelhouse. A slow-motion avalanche of watery synths and drones, "Balance" is a beautiful and meditative piece that elegantly unfolds over 20 somnambulant minutes. "Flight" is more eventful, its haunting keyboard figures reminiscent of POPOL VUH and Vangelis, with the merest touch of TANGERINE DREAM-like rhythmic insistence driving it along. "Dawn", the trippiest (and shortest) of the four tracks, takes spectral cues from '90s ambient techno, but is eventually reduced down to a syrupy, ambient flow. Finally, "Rain" blends richer, synthesizer textures with the unsettling sound of distant noise and crystalline guitar motifs, culminating with woozy, corrosive drones that expand and contract like a space cadet's pupils. As the perfect post-battle comedown, to be listened to directly after "Absolute Elsewhere" itself, "All Gates Open" is hard to fault. But the real question is: where will BLOOD INCANTATION go next? Somewhere fascinating, perverse and potentially life-changing, we can all assume. Until then, this is a very cool invitation to zone out and contemplate the inside of one's skull.