Come on in...the water's fine.

 

Off for the rest of the Summer, be back for some horror metal reviews in October! - autothrall 

Blood Incantation - Luminescent Bridge EP (2023)

Rather than making some major career choice and consigning one of their two styles to oblivion or a side project, Blood Incantation instead move forward with both their death metal and cosmic ambient halves on this latest single. As someone who enjoyed both of these creative entities, I can't say that I'm terribly disappointed, but I'm not sure how long this sort of split personality can be maintained without the band needing to spin off of them off. Or perhaps it never will be. On the downside, I don't feel that, for this particular release, both halves are created equally. Competent, for sure, but while the band expends a lot of effort to return to the death metal that put it on the map, and succeeds there, I don't feel like the opposite is the case...

"Obliquity of the Ecliptic" is quite good, at least on the level of the first two tracks off Hidden History, with some dark grooves to it and no shying away from the blasted mayhem, with just a few hints of proggier structures poking through. This track itself does have an ambient segue, and a nice one with the drums rolling around, an organic and glittering vibe to it when the soft synth pads do arrive. Eventually, it explodes into a more glorious, melodic second half and you really do feel through the almost 9 minutes that you've gone on some adventure. As for "Luminescent Bridge", it's got some nice clean guitar tones and spacious ambient textures, as well as a lead guitar that breaks out deep in its bridge (if ambient tracks can really have a 'bridge'), but it's just not as immersive for me as Timewave Zero was, though I dug the horn sounds at the end. It might even feel like it was thrown together because they didn't have two death metal tracks ready...I've mentioned it before, but considering the band's huge underground status they haven't put out a ton of tunes, they tend to take their time.

Nothing wrong with that, but I just can't envision myself revisiting this piece very often, and thus would probably prefer of "Obliquity" was just on another EP or full-length album. Is that track good enough after four years since Hidden History? I'd say it's adequate, if not exemplary. As a brief, 20 minute single or EP though, this is barely enough to tide the audience over as they anticipate whatever comes next or what style it might invoke. It's hard not to think, with all their exposure, and then the total turn towards the ambient for the 2022 record, that whatever comes next for Blood Incantation could be their 'ride or die', their 'make or break' to the fanbase and their expanding audience. No reason to believe they can't rise to the challenge, but I don't think we'll need any more little morsels like this while we wait to find out.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

Blood Incantation -Timewave Zero (2022)

Timewave Zero was met with an understandably divisive reaction as it went on to more fully explore Blood Incantation's ambient influences, which to this point had only been manifest in parts of a few instrumentals or interludes on their albums. To an extent, I can sympathize with the naysayers...the logo is the same, and it's such a massive shift that it might as well be another band entirely, but it's not as if this was the first time in history some extreme metal acts took 180 turns. Hell, look at Beherit or Burzum, or many others who embarked on ambient or electronic or dungeon synth paths away from the blasting and growling. I'm all for bands evolving, in fact some of my favorites like Enslaved or Voivod have made careers of it, but this could certainly be seen as a bridge too far...

Fortunately, Timewave Zero is quite good. 2-3 epic length ambient tracks, (depending on which version you've acquired), moody and mesmerizing, and at the very least, featuring contributions from all the death metal band members. So even though this might come off as a vanity project that extends the earlier hints of this style, it's all hands on deck as they surf further along the radiance of quasars and emptiness of the vacuum between worlds. The textures are obvious but also subtle, with a couple different synth-lines layered together, some repetitious and others more celestial and spacious, but it's mostly quite smoothed-over, you don't get into the abrasive droning or noisy sounds that a lot of darker ambient projects explore, at least not in "Io" or "Ea". As most you feel the atmosphere of alien worlds through a few sweltering crescendos of what might feel like colossal elder beings stretching their galaxy-wide limb, or really a cinematic feel that will trigger nostalgia for old sci fi films in which the synthesizer-based composers really earned their scratch.

There's also a little touch of acoustic guitar deep into the experience which is a nice bridge back to the familiar, and this is perhaps my favorite part, when the little synths play off against this. If you've got the version with "Chronophagia", this is a much darker, improvised and longer tune where a lot of those more droning aspects come into effect, with some moody synth lines out in the astral murk that really impress as another of the highlight. My CD copy does not have this track and it kind of pisses me off, I didn't do my research but I HIGHLY recommend you get that version with the CD + Blu Ray or the multiple records, because it definitely adds a lot of value to the release and then it really becomes more of a full-length than an EP as the band states.

Now, admittedly I don't have a ton of knowledge when it comes to this genre...I do have hundreds of ambient, dark ambient, New Age, dungeon synth, space synth and other releases digitally, and also a bunch in physical form. I love the stuff. I dig my Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean-Michael Jarre, Fenriz' Neptune Towers, and many more, but I don't know that I can precisely pinpoint the influences that Riedl and company most lean on for this. But it's clearly fluent in that spacey style, immersive and just as easy to get lost in as any of their death metal material, though I think this is obviously a lot simpler and probably easier to put together. I think it would work better as a spin-off, or perhaps integrated into their heavier side, but ultimately what matters is the quality of what's on the disc, and this is enjoyable if not revolutionary for its style.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race (2019)

If Starspawn was a record that exploded its own audience through a shitstorm of positive critical response and massive scene hype, Hidden History of the Human Race was the record that had to LIVE UP to all of that; and I can remember the high anticipation levels, palpable, like heaving and sweating Shoggoth's as this thing was first introduced. The full-length sophomore was in no way a disappointment, not to say that I think it's quite as good as the album before it, but again, like that from the EP before it, the band seems to have taken some baby steps in evolution. I was also pretty surprised to see the familiar cover artwork, not only from the Canadian Agony album from the 90s, but at the UMass sci fi library we had a copy of the Brian Aldiss sci-fi book it was first used on, and I guess it remains as intriguing here as then, if not quite so novel (har har).

I felt like this album, at only four tracks, really unleashes with a lot more death metal and less of the experimentation I might have expected. Loads of Morbid Angel, Nile, Cannibal Corpse vibes coming off "Slave Species of the Gods" and "The Giza Power Plant", where I would have thought they'd get stranger and spacier from the artwork and the lyrics which embrace the extraterrestrial themes and Chariot of the Gods stuff. It's not until "Inner Paths (To Outer Space)" that I get what I was honestly looking forward to, a piece that evolves from ambient adventurism to a proggy and forward-thinking style reminiscent of Cynic, Atheist and mid-era Pestilence. This is a much better instrumental than the one on the album before it, and sets you up for the 18 minute epic closer which is by far the most dizzying and impressive piece on the album, every bit the measure of the two previous releases. In fact I'll say that the latter half of this album is more compelling in general than the former, and even the flighty, crazy death metal riffing has more going for it as it fragments off into more unpredictable directions.

That's not to say the first two cuts are throwaways by any means, they're quality death metal, but the otherworldy/intellectual side of the band just isn't as present there. Fortunately, the rest does compensate for this, and I can only imagine if we were to get a full-length with 2-3 tracks that are as frenzied and bonkers as "Awakening from the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)", the title of which is obviously a little throwback to how Demilich used to label their tunes with the ridiculous word-count. Musically, those Finns are also a reference in this one, but where they focused more on the grooves, this takes that style and thrusts it into hypserspace oblivion, so that when they DO break out into something slower and more roiling, you really feel it. They also spin it off into another ambient section, so the writing is really on the wall for where the band might head next. I just didn't expect how FAR. As it stands, Hidden History is another success for the Coloradans, but I feel it frontloads its less interesting (but still solid) material and is lacking just a little as a result.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

Blood Incantation - Starspawn (2016)

Starspawn is, for me, what really got this extradimensional party started. It wasn't my introduction to Blood Incantation, but the first material I actually purchased, that truly drew me on board the (deserved) hype train the band was riding. It's a natural successor to the EP, not necessarily eclipsing that in technicality, but clearly more ambitious and adventurous in structure, without escaping the gravitational pull of its more obvious influences, which could be drawn from an admixture of Floridian, Canadian and Finnish DM royalty. Again, not a ton of material here, just five tracks in 34 minutes, but at the same time, there's no fat to trim, no excess to the band's ideas that they can't pull off. They focus on making these five cohesive and memorable, and they succeed.

The production is a little denser than the previous release, and at the same time, it's more airy and atmospheric, especially on the melodies and leads like you'll hear pretty quickly in the depths of the 13 minute beast that opens this, "Vitrification of Blood (Part 1)". This tune covers the whole range of the band's fury from the start, whether it's the thundering blasts and writhing OSDM tremolo riffs, or the more proggy leaning grooves over which Paul Riedl's gutturals roar off into the cosmos with an appreciable reverb. The band yet again achieves that organic feel, murky but sincere, though I feel that the opening track definitely lends itself to more exploration as in the extended bridge with the chugging grooves and simple melodic lead licks ringing out, like a rocket transforming into a doomed space hulk in a slower orbit about some alien sun. The rest of the tracks are much more controlled at around 4-7 minutes, and get an equal amount of ground covered.

I definitely think Paul's voice is a bit more effective here, and there's a wider variety of riffs natural occurring since they've got twice the space to maneuver about in. The drums are tireless but never too insane, the band also got it's proper bass player here, also using a fretless, though I wouldn't say its leaps and bounds beyond the performance on the EP; the guitars and beats and growls just take center stage here, so it can get lost a bit behind their bulk, even though it's still audible most of the play length. There is an instrumental piece here which starts off more in the spacey dark ambient realm before turning into some clean guitars, it's a bit of a relief from the heavier material, but at the same time it sounds like it's a few separate ideas just being strewn together and it's easily the weakest cut of the five, and doesn't quite live up to its awesome title "Meticulous Soul Devourment". To some extent, it foreshadows their later ambient work, but it's not as interesting as that, just sort of an experiment that doesn't fully pan out.

Otherwise, Starpawn is awesome, and it's a record that does earn its place as one of the outbreak underground sensations of that 2010s time period. Is it quite the masterpiece that some might claim? Not exactly, if only because when broken down, the songs and riffs aren't always as sticky as I'd like, but as a sum experience it's very impressive and it's very natural feel holds up now as much as when I first listened through it. I could live without the instrument, but it's not the idea of the thing that lets me down, only that it needs a better flow, not only within itself, but with the tracks sandwiching it. Along with Interdimensional Extinction, this is pretty much the strongest era of the band thus far, but like I've said before, they don't have a ton of material out yet, I feel there is just so much yet to come and Blood Incantation won't be afraid to take some risks, some chances that might churn out even more impressive results.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

Blood Incantation - Interdimensional Extinction EP (2015)

Blood Incantation is one of the foremost entities to reap the death metal whirlwind of the last decade, expanding upon the cosmic sound of groups like Morbid Angel, Gorguts and the unknown Timeghoul through intelligent songwriting and really honing down their material to what counts. Hell, not including their ambient distractions and a handful of the demo tunes, they've only got about 14 metal tracks from this Interdimensional Extinction EP all the way to the present on the major releases, but they've made a huge splash regardless, landing themselves onto big tours, topping a myriad of years' end lists from various bloggers and publications, and already establishing some genuine staying power within the genre, assuming they stick with it (more on that later).

I didn't quite clamp on to Interdimensional Extinction at first, it was Starspawn that really drew me into the band's sound, but in retrospect, as I revisit this, I think it might be their best-produced of the extreme material, a compelling burst of slightly technical, progressive death metal which calls on anything from their Floridian forebears to hints of the old Finnish scene. The songwriting is varied, from faster melodic sequences to flailing leads and a few concentrated, mid-paced elements which might even channel a little epic death/doom ("Hovering Lifeless"). There's a little Moog playing here too which definitely exerts the nerdier prog inspirations, and its presence helps place this album into the sphere of related works like Spheres by Pestilence with all its synth-guitars, even though it's nowhere near as out there and not quite so original. This is more playing around in a swirling, pure death metal context and just putting out some feelers into the unknown, like a rocket hurtling to an eldritch universe and making first contact with the spawn of the Old Ones existing there.

What's most impressive to me about Blood Incantation is how they create such an otherworldly sound while remaining so organic. Listening through their first few releases, I always get the impression they can pull this off quite closely in the rehearsal space or on the stage, there's an honesty, where a lot of spacier bands will pull out every studio trick possible or wank off their technical wizardry. The Coloradan trio does none of that here, it's pure raw talent, and warmer tones, with a genuine pump to the rhythm guitars, clear and blazing leads that don't attempt to polish themselves off too much, maintaining just a trace of the unhinged. The drums are very good and there's also a fretless session bassist, the latter reminding me of Tony Choi when he was doing Pestilence of Cynic although I'll admit I can't quite tell the difference with the frets or not in some cases. But in this mix, everything shines, there's nothing repressed and its easy to hear how they've cultivated so much respect.

Interdimensional Extinction is easily one of the better 'introduction' EPs in death metal this last decade, and going back to it I think it might even be one of my favorite releases from the band, if not the singular favorite, though it's not as corpulent or escapist as Starspawn. It's just the right blend of grounded and weird, with a lot of haunting details like the vocal clamor at the end of "Subterranean Aeon", or the creepy clean guitars that herald "Hovering Lifeless" while the snappy, jazzy drums attack right into the blasting, ensuing mayhem. Absolutely worth picking up now as the EP is much more readily available than when the band first broke out.

Verdict: Win [8.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/BloodIncantationOfficial/

200 Stab Wounds - Slave to the Scalpel (2021)

As swell and...injury-swelling as the 200 Stab Wounds debut EP was, I think it's Slaves to the Scalpel that really put the Ohioans in a lot more earpieces, and then proceeded to chew many of them off. Although they keep things short here like that earlier release, with 9 tunes clocking in at 27 minutes, I feel like they answered and expanded upon a number of the limitations that material presented, and this full-length is a much better balanced record, one that's grown on me since I first listened through it a couple years ago. On the surface, it's your garden variety, dense as fuck slamming old school death metal that a lot of the Maggot Stomp camp excel in, which basically started a whole new trend for those who wanted their death metal dance-worthy without obnoxious levels of dull technicality and bland production.

But it's what they layer into that experience which makes all the difference, and provides you with a nice half hour burst of fun. For one, the horror samples and synths and effects are a nice touch, they briefly visited this at the beginning of the EP, but it's more prominent on a track like "Phallic Filth" and erupts perfectly into its chugging, grooving, body-breaking rhythms and spurts of blasted mayhem. There's a lot of atmosphere throughout the album, more than you'd expect on such a tight time-budget, and then they use flirt around with more melodies and leads, and even though these are a little unpolished and not always so catchy in placement, it proves the band is a little more ambitious than just scraping the floor of the mosh pit forever. Loads of the riffs have a Cannibal Corpse influence, as you'll hear in "Stifling Stew", and while they're never as catchy or creative as that band was when they came up with these ideas, it's a whole palette of techniques they explore and even dumb down into their bedrock grooving style. The album's a little apprehensive about speed, and they could certainly scribe some tastier riffs when they hit that velocity, but at least they're meddling around with it.

Production is just as good as the EP, if a little more accessible, with guitars that sound like they came from the cattle packing plant, and the bass is likewise cranked up a little and has more presence than it did on the first release. Feedback, creepy growls and snarls, all sorts of atmosphere gives Slave to the Scalpel a vaulted sound that keeps my ears glued, and the constant little details like the Slayer-y evil melodies in "Itty Bitty Pieces" or the meaty bass and syncopation in "Expirated Splatter" that lead to those wavy, morbid riffs go a long way towards flavoring up all the mosh. This group has certainly been labeled as overrated or overhyped, and surely there's nothing too unique about the various ingredients to this stew, but when it's all blended together it just creates this entertaining broth that I keep sipping at despite any of the base stupidity of its recipe. Gory, satisfying death metal with a lot of room yet to grow, but never any prescribed mandate to do so.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/200StabWounds/

200 Stab Wounds - Piles of Festering Decomposition EP (2020)

200 Stab Wounds hail from the same Ohio scene as Sanguisugabogg, and perform with a comparable sound too, and from what I've seen the last couple years, the same degree of divisiveness among death metal fans that find them either severely overrated or just what the doctor ordered. It's more of that primitive, groove-laden 'slam' death which isn't so focused on pig squeals or brutal technicality, but in laying down the bricks and watching the audience pick them up and hit each other with them. I will say this, though, the Piles of Festering Decomposition EP sounds utterly fantastic, and despite being under 8 minutes long and three tracks, really knows how to make an entrance. In fact, among the Maggot Stomp roster I think this is one of the better introductions.

With the sampled bells ringing off, the writhing flesh-like guitar tone and a pretty awesome, gruesome opening riff, "Maggot Casket" sets the stage for the pugilistic experience ahead. Steve Buhl's gutturals are resonant and oppressive, occasionally belching up a vomit-like break at the end of some phrase, and while some might think of them as a bit cheesy or juvenile, they've got loads of personality which a lot of more controlled growlers are lacking. The chomping, chugging, chunky tone of the rhythm guitar is also a highlight, so virile and infectious that it can even transform the most basic 'been there' sorts of riffs into something you find a new appreciation for, especially when it rolls off a riff like "Body in the Basement". Bass is prominent but could use a few more moments to shine off against the guitars, and the drums have a sort of contrasted, jam room vibe that often manifests into groovier, almost hip hop beats, but this works really well against the crushing force of the vocals and guitars for some reason.

Granted, 200 Stab Wounds has a lot more room they could be exploring in terms of variation and tempo, the production on this one is so cool that I wouldn't have minded them blitzing into more fast parts with some tremolo riffs or such...that's not to say they don't shift it up, they do, but if this were going for more than the 8 minutes the material would demand some more exploration of the tones and instruments. For what it is, though, Piles of Festering Decomposition is an effective statement of purpose that certainly lives up to the hype, nothing original, but for those that just want to shut off their brain and breakdance to some heavy as fuck urban death metal, this offers a good length workout before your next Gatorade.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/200StabWounds/

Sentenced 2 Die - Parasitic Infection (2023)

I won't promise you that Parasitic Infection is some extinction level event for the bro-core death metal scene of the 2020s, but this record is super fun nonetheless and a notable improvement over Sentenced 2 Die's 2021 EP in every single department. It keeps some of that hardcore influence intact, but is more than willing to ramp up the 'pure' death metal feel, to take a few chances, and more often to me this feels like a proper, well-written, low-tech slamming DM record that occasionally remembers where it came from rather than a metalcore or deathcore band earnestly trying to 'legitimize' or brutalize itself, not that bands from that scene need to do so, but you get the point. And this record gives ME the point, repeatedly, stabbing and bludgeoning me with its huge grooves, great production and much more memorable material.

"Canopy of Intestines" was one of my favorite death metal tunes of 2023, with its simple but creepy melodies and evil breakdowns, while "Bestial Deformity" took me completely by surprise with the addition of the ominous clean vocals that chant over its depths. The Minnesotans clearly sat down together and decided that what came before wasn't enough, that there was so much more musical quality they could wring from this slamming, basic style, and they accomplished such. The bass tone here is much mightier, bouncing along with a little more personality from the awesome crunch of the rhythm guitars, so they feel more like individual instruments even if the lines go in the same direction. The drums are also much clearer and you can make out the thunder from the fills. Vocalist Dave Sikorski uses the same guttural attack as the debut, but it's better fleshed out here, a little more abrupt and not just hovering in the midst of the musical weight, and when he flashes out some carnal snarl it's pretty effective.

But the production itself might be the star, with everything so heavy and loud and battering that it nearly blew out the windows on our Honda Fit. The album is also quite concise at around 24 minutes, so even if some of the tunes don't really throw out a truly impressive riff or surprise they go about their business quickly, and there's a sweet acoustic interlude right in the middle to let you take a breath before they crush your fucking face again. The leads aren't exactly a major feature of their style yet, but in some tunes like "Splattered on Pavement" they are making the attempt, and since elsewhere they already show their aptitude for nailing a good melody or harmony, this is a good space for further evolution of their sound. Parasitic Infection goes so much further than the EP in presenting the 'total package' of modern death that acknowledges its roots, and if you're into stuff like the grooves off the last couple Dying Fetus records, this is a lot of fun.

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://www.instagram.com/sentenced2die/?utm_medium=copy_link

Sentenced 2 Die - No Reason to Live EP (2021)

Sentenced 2 Die are fairly fresh meat in that hybrid scene of death metal hardcore/beatdown acts, but they're already showing a steady increase in songwriting potential beyond some of their competitors. No Reason to Live was an independently released EP, clocking in at under 11 minutes, which showcased their potential, and was enough to land the group a deal with the fitting Maggot Stomp imprint, and it's a solid pairing since this material is likely to please fans of comparable acts. I'd say that Ohio's Sanguisugabogg is a pretty close style to this, other than the lyrical themes, which don't skew here to the same humorous or perverse level, but more a degree of traditional horror/nihilism and social issues. The four tracks here are a little rough around the edges, but sort of like those earlier Creeping Death EPs, there's an appreciable, ominous bludgeoning vibe that works.

The formula is fairly simple, focused in on slower grooving riffs that are interspersed with tremolo picking, double bass bombardments and a lot of low-end heaviness, reinforced by the rather deep and often monotonous guttural that creates its own atmosphere not above, but burrowed within the rumbling instruments. The rhythm guitar tone is tight but saturated in the fat bass, so they almost combine into one unified blunt force that bounces cautiously up and down like your body hitting and skipping off the pavement in slow-mo. The guitars pop and squeal, little measures of brutality that keep the thick riffs a little more involved than they might have been, but the centerpiece is almost always the walls of mosh pit chugging as in "Life Devoured" where you can just feel the growling erupting about a foot over the pit, bodies flailing around you as they ninja windmill or whatever the fuck kids call it these last few decades.

Hasn't been my scene since the 90s, but even I feel motivated to move when I hear some of these grooves, just because of the enormous production emphasis. However, the sheer heaviness here is just not enough, and I feel like these songs weren't developed with much thought or intricacy, rather to establish the band as a steady steamroller and please a crowd. It's effective enough when you're in its grasp, but there's little to nothing memorable about this material, especially when placing it up against the vastly superior debut full-length to follow. That said, No Reason to Live lays enough groundwork that you can tell if this is something you're going to relate to, and if you're into a lot of the other caveman death metal mavens on this label, this might land for you more than it did for me, as I was more into some of the other EPs by the peers I mentioned above.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

https://www.instagram.com/sentenced2die/?utm_medium=copy_link