Written by Carcassbomb
- Blood Incantation
- Hidden History Of The Human Race
- Scifi Death Metal
- USA
- November 22, 2019
- Dark Descent Records
- 9.5/10
The hype is insane on this one, so I’m excited for everyone else as I listen to Blood Incantation‘s new album Hidden History of the Human Race for a pre-release review. The moment I pressed play the silence was broken so abruptly that it legitimately frightened me, so early signs are promising. I also have a fondness for bands that use long and mysterious titles and track names which Blood Incantation understand and deliver on. Cosmetically The Hidden History Of The Human Race is top notch.
Other than the abrupt start, we’re immediately treated to some rolling pounding old school death metal with science fiction trimmings, mostly felt in the guitars. It’s a menacing kind of melody that contributes to the overall headbanging nicely, we got regular headbanging, we got head nodding, we got windmills and… uh, side to side? The entire opening track, “Slave Species of the Gods” is written for the sake of physical movement, you can’t help it and it doesn’t lessen, it just makes your face change absurdly in reaction to the growing intensity. This is how you do a chunky and addictive death metal song.
With the tone set so masterfully for the album, the second of the four tracks is “The Giza Power Plant”, a slower doomier track that’s just as fat and interesting as the first, the analogue recording process has done wonders for Blood Incantation. It always moves around organically, it’s a style that recalls The Chasm and their twisting scifi ways of old. The third track “Inner Paths (to Outer Space)” continues this but in a much more subdued and proggy way resembling post metal. An unexpected but not unwelcome change. A lot of Opeth fans who yearn for the earlier styles will likely appreciate this track a lot. The vocals that come in at the very end sound slightly different again, as they have with each track. It’s a spicy mix.
Blood Incantation: Bandcamp / Spotify / Facebook
Finally, the final and curious track that stands out on this otherwise standard album structure, an 18-minute epic titled “Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)”. I told you it would deliver on titles. This track proves Blood Incantation are very capable of holding a listener attention span as it never wavers or wastes time, it’s a great heaping of metal that showcases the musician’s fluidity. It’s metal that dreams, big and fantastical.
Overall this will be on every AOY list, it’s pretty much inevitable. There’s a level of quality attained with this work that’s undeniable and will stick in the memory. It catches the eye and the ear, perhaps even ones whimsey. Look out for the merch, I’m particularly keen on the cassette… and everything sold out pretty immediately.
9.5/10
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