On their first two full-lengths, Blood Incantation crafted cosmic death metal that launched them to the exosphere. Their journey — on the fringes of metal, tethered between death and beyond — was given extra thrust by the success of 2019's Hidden History of the Human Race, which earned major accolades and marked them as an act to watch. For their new record, Timewave Zero, the Denver quartet departed on a decidedly different musical trajectory, dropping the metal of yore to explore the vastness and zero gravity of outer space.
The intent was to lean into the experimental, psychedelic and progressive elements of their music while exploring their dark, cosmic and cinematic tendencies even further, and Timewave Zero is a sprawling galactic odyssey. The LP unfolds across two near twenty-minute tracks, scanning serenity to requiem and the gulfs in between.
A pulse draws the listener into song one, "Io." It builds gradually until a massive drone appears with faint metallic squeaks. Then, it intensifies, with layers of rippling tones and mysterious clatter. It's distinctly sci-fi. Notes bubble, stretch and are cast into the ether. Sound signals emit into shimmering nothingness. Around the eight-minute mark, a synth starts flowing through a recurring motif shrouded in dark, swelling ambience as silvery ribbons float like shooting stars in the distance. As that motif falls away, the immenseness returns, and with it a groaning drone and guitar that grow to be funereal, foreboding and hypnotic. By the time the sequence transitions into the song's rumbling, softly twanging coda, the listener is lost far in Blood Incantation's orbit.
"Ea" picks up in similar territory. Synths send arpeggiating pulses and beams of light into humming, twinkling space. The piece evolves slowly and subtly, always staying within a moderate scope which, for these excursions' expansiveness, somewhat limits their allure. Nevertheless, Timewave Zero is a scenic and mournful drift through cold and emotive cosmos. Around the midpoint of "Ea," an elegiac and haunting guitar riff makes a distinct appearance, joined by sparkling squelches, brooding bass and subdued wails. The track continues as this refrain dissolves into forlorn bellows and ebbing rays, moving further into the deep, dark unknown.
Blood Incantation's shift into ambience is an admirable one, especially following an effort as lauded as Hidden History of the Human Race. While Timewave Zero finds the band adapting well to this shadowy fantasia, one can't help but feel now that Blood Incantation has set the lay of the galaxy, there is more to explore. Whether the results are visceral or cerebral, of inner consciousness or outer space, these guys are well-equipped for the ride.
(Century Media)The intent was to lean into the experimental, psychedelic and progressive elements of their music while exploring their dark, cosmic and cinematic tendencies even further, and Timewave Zero is a sprawling galactic odyssey. The LP unfolds across two near twenty-minute tracks, scanning serenity to requiem and the gulfs in between.
A pulse draws the listener into song one, "Io." It builds gradually until a massive drone appears with faint metallic squeaks. Then, it intensifies, with layers of rippling tones and mysterious clatter. It's distinctly sci-fi. Notes bubble, stretch and are cast into the ether. Sound signals emit into shimmering nothingness. Around the eight-minute mark, a synth starts flowing through a recurring motif shrouded in dark, swelling ambience as silvery ribbons float like shooting stars in the distance. As that motif falls away, the immenseness returns, and with it a groaning drone and guitar that grow to be funereal, foreboding and hypnotic. By the time the sequence transitions into the song's rumbling, softly twanging coda, the listener is lost far in Blood Incantation's orbit.
"Ea" picks up in similar territory. Synths send arpeggiating pulses and beams of light into humming, twinkling space. The piece evolves slowly and subtly, always staying within a moderate scope which, for these excursions' expansiveness, somewhat limits their allure. Nevertheless, Timewave Zero is a scenic and mournful drift through cold and emotive cosmos. Around the midpoint of "Ea," an elegiac and haunting guitar riff makes a distinct appearance, joined by sparkling squelches, brooding bass and subdued wails. The track continues as this refrain dissolves into forlorn bellows and ebbing rays, moving further into the deep, dark unknown.
Blood Incantation's shift into ambience is an admirable one, especially following an effort as lauded as Hidden History of the Human Race. While Timewave Zero finds the band adapting well to this shadowy fantasia, one can't help but feel now that Blood Incantation has set the lay of the galaxy, there is more to explore. Whether the results are visceral or cerebral, of inner consciousness or outer space, these guys are well-equipped for the ride.
