Blood Incantation | Artist
Blood Incantation is an American death metal band formed 2011 in Denver, Colorado, by guitarist and vocalist Paul Riedl, drummer Isaac Faulk, and guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky. Fouth member Jeff Barrett joined in 2015 playing fretless bass. Emerging from the Colorado scene with other bands such as Velnias, Abysmal Dimensions and Leech, Blood Incantation's sound features a psychedelic take on classic death metal, melding technicality with tectonic riffs and cavernous eerie vocals. On the band's style, Stereogum's Aaron Lariviere wrote: "Screaming leads cut a swath through the churn of atonal rhythm guitars, blending the bright melodicism of late-period Death with the alien tones of Morbid Angel circa Domination." The band's lyrics mainly deal with topics such as space and death. They got critical acclaim after the release of their first record Starspawn which was mostly classic death metal. After that the band started to evolve their sound incorporating elements of ambient and psychedelic rock - they even released ambient only material on the 2022 EP Timewave Zero. A concert EP Live Vitrification appeared in 2018, consisting of the 19-minute "The Vitrification of Blood" and an untitled ambient piece. The band's second studio album, 2019's punishing Hidden History of the Human Race, was even more acclaimed than their debut, charting in Pitchfork's Top 50 albums of the year. Blood Incantation signed to Century Media, and the label reissued their debut EP and first two albums in 2021. Timewave Zero, a cinematic dark ambient full-length, appeared in 2022. The band's third album Absolute Elsewhere, released October 2024, shows their technical talent extending well beyond traditional metal precepts, demonstrating an appreciation for other genres and a desire to convey that in their own music. Where Starspawn and Hidden History were like a tasty stir fry of spacey prog rock and death metal, Absolute Elsewhere is more like a multi-course banquet in structure. Split into two roughly 20 minute epics, each further divided into three parts, with each of the six tracks making sharp transitions between genres. You only need to get two minutes into this album before the death metal rapidly deconstructs into an extended prog-rock jam with synths ripped straight out of the 70s. After the track cleanly reverts back into those tasty death metal grooves, the Tangerine Dream feature kicks in and transports you into outer space as the second "tablet" of The Stargate kicks in. At this point we're less than 9 minutes in to a 43 minute album and Blood Incantation have covered more ground than many metal bands do in an entire discography, and they've done it gracefully. All three of the band's studio albums are highly recommended, as is the 2015 EP Interdimensional Extinction, and the live album Live Vitrification from 2018. Paul Riedl, Morris Kolontyrsky and Jeff Barrett are also members of Denver based doom metal band Spectral Voice, who have issued three albums, including their excellent debut Eroded Corridors of Unbeing (2017). Paul Riedl also participates in multiple drone and atmospheric metal prohects, plus he released two solo ambient/drone solo albums in 2023. Riedl is also the founder of Salem, Oregon based record label Woodsmoke.
Artist Website: bloodincantation.bigcartel.com
Featured Albums: Blood Incantation
Related Artists: Spectral Voice
