Blood Incantation, one of the most important bands in modern death metal, decided to surprise everyone with last year’s Timewave Zero. While it’s known that at the very least Paul Riedl likes to dabble in the ambient arts, it transpired out the rest of the members feel that way too, and the end product Timewave Zero seemed to divide the fan base between those that just wanted to lap up everything produced by these no doubt highly talented artists, and the ones who just wanted more blasting death metal in the vein of their previous releases rather than the ambient showcase they released.
Come 2023, and we’re treated to surprise release Luminescent Bridge; the first track on the EP evokes “Awakening from the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of our Reality” with the kind of crushing heaviness we’ve come to expect over the years from the Colarado stalwarts. “Obliquity of the Ecliptic” is soaked in ambient textures and psychedelic overtones, beginning with a heavy metal gallop, followed by a short but powerful solo sounding like it’s straight off an early Morbid Angel record, with otherworldly divebombs and descending off kilter riffs Chuck Shuldiner himself would’ve been proud of. Riedl’s Grevlar style chanted vocals make an appearance too, conjuring up shades of the occult to accompany the coming madness. Soon the song slows into one of Blood Incantation’s signature psych breaks, twisting maelstroms, more phase than a lunar cycle and horrifying cyclical riffs pound your already desperate brain into oblivion before delivering you into the calming waves of the second track.
“...twisting maelstroms, more phase than a lunar cycle and horrifying cyclical riffs pound your already desperate brain into oblivion before delivering you into the calming waves of the second track.”
“Luminescent Bridge,” carries on the ambient work first heard with the release of Timewave Zero. A slow contemplative guitar riff rides the cosmic waves alone joined only by the sort of noises usually associated with space travel. This is definitely cosmic music for cosmic people, and although this side of the band has been divisive we can’t help but note how well the two tracks work together in tandem to produce a journey through the void akin to a sort of death metal space opera. This EP seems to show a further evolution of these giants of the riff, hinting at the possibility the next album will have elements of all their previous work, amalgamated into a new breed of death metal monster. The world is certainly hankering for the new era of Blood Incantation as they emerge from their weed infused, ambient drone, death metal chrysalis.