After their incredibly popular and totally marvellous debut album “Starspawn”, Blood Incantation is back with their sophomore record, out now via Dark Descent Records and Century Media Records.
The familiarity of huge guitar soundscapes ridden with meaty bass and ferocious drumming blasts us straight in alongside searing lead work and descend into progressively melodic riffing and guttural vocal savagery, definitely offering a more spectral and otherworldly sound as promised. The tight musicianship is impeccable with a cascade of chaotic frenzy being a running theme which adds a volatile sound to the record while keeping things neat and gruellingly dark, especially with a really filthy production style that suits the album to perfection. There are parts, especially in the vocals, that definitely feel like a step up in terms of delivering a much stronger sound, while maybe dialling back on the nasty “Cavern-Death” feel a tad in favour of a more classically loveable Death Metal style reminiscent of Death or Possessed in some parts while going into the more estranged technicality of Gorguts later work too.
It is wonderful to see the band has retained their originality and unique sound that made them such a hit in the first place while offering a totally new experience that doesn’t feel like a cheap part 2 to “Starspawn” but a work of art in its own right. The meaty technicality and violent spew of darkness is not limited to the first track as the second delivers an even more impressive array of destructive grooves and unhinging atmospherics rife with pungent layering and intricate nuances across the board. In the third piece we are given a mental interlude of psychedelia that furthers the cosmic soundscape of the band into a whole new realm of madness before we are brought back in with a grandiose, 18-minute, finishing blow of total Death Metal ecstasy. While a long ending piece, everything is here. Huge stomping grooves, precise intricate melodics, bleak ambience and soaring melodies over a rupturing and rhythmic blend of pure old school Death Metal monstrosities.
This record not only surpasses my expectations and lives up to the at times worryingly large hype of the band, something I did not want to become a burden, Blood Incantation knock it out of the park (or atmosphere might be more apt) for a magnificent journey into stellar decimation. This total monolith of Death Metal is going to top many peoples release lists for 2019 and deservedly so. Blood Incantation remain the ineffable kings of atmospheric prowess and blundering brutality alike. This cosmic spectacle must be heard to be believed and shall certainly entice most with its fiercely violent musicianship and phenomenal songwriting work, truly masterful. -9/10
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