Blood Incantation @ Elsewhere, Brooklyn, US, November 26, 2024 | Under the Radar Magazine Under the Radar | Music Blog for the Indie Music Magazine
Saturday, February 8th, 2025  

Blood Incantation

Blood Incantation, Midwife

Blood Incantation @ Elsewhere, Brooklyn, US, November 26, 2024,

Dec 02, 2024 Web Exclusive

There’s a certain charm to seeing a band at the very peak of their powers and as they ascend to greater heights both artistically and in terms of popularity. This was the case this past Tuesday night at a very full (perhaps oversold; if not, it sure felt like it) Elsewhere Hall in Brooklyn as the relentlessly touring Denver modern death metal titans Blood Incantation came to New York for the first time as a headliner since 2022 (though technically that was a co-headlining gig with the Philly-based Full of Hell) at the smaller Brooklyn Monarch.

And yet still, due to the overwhelming critical and fan response to their just released new full-length album Absolute Elsewhere, one could barely move in the uber-crowded club, the merch line in particular being one of the longest I’ve ever seen, extending up the stairs at several points! This is clearly a band that’s “going places” and seems to only get more popular as more hear them. On this night, they treated the rapturous, sold-out audience to the new album in full followed by “Inner Paths (to Outer Space)” (from 2019’s Hidden History of the Human Race) and “Obliquity of the Ecliptic” from 2023’s Luminescent Bridge EP, which is included as a bonus EP with some editions of Absolute Elsewhere. As such, there was no encore, no pause, just a full onslaught of brutal, Morbid Angel-worshipping death metal mixed with explicit prog rock and Krautrock influences, at times reminding me of King Crimson (particularly the first track of “Stargate”), Pink Floyd (a very distinctive part of “The Message”) and Tangerine Dream (who play on Absolute Elsewhere).

Midwife
Midwife

It should be noted that to reproduce some of the sounds heard on the album, they had touring keyboardist Nicklas Malmqvist of Swedish prog band Hällas in tow. Malmqvist filled out the sound nicely, though guitarists Morris Kolontyrsky and Paul Riedl (alongside bassist Jeff Barett and drummer Isaac Faulk) create quite a sonic assault on the senses in their own right.
Opener Midwife (current nom de plume of longtime singer-songwriter Madeline Johnston), by contrast, also hailing from Blood Incantation’s native Denver, started off the evening with a solo set of just Johnston and her guitar creating a looping, atmospheric, hazy, at times gorgeous blend of her patented blend of “heaven metal” that sounded like Grouper on quaaludes. I loved it and appreciate the fact that the headliners are willing to challenge their audience by including non-metal musicians as openers and collaborators both live and on record. Open the Stargate!




Comments

Submit your comment

Name Required

Email Required, will not be published

URL

Remember my personal information
Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image below:

There are no comments for this entry yet.