LIVE REVIEW: Blood Incantation @ The Garage, Glasgow

Predicting which underground death metal acts are going to climb the gloomy ladder towards the mainstream is like predicting when a fly’s going to sneeze. Progressive death metallers BLOOD INCANTATION proved to be such a band, expanding far beyond playing 200-person venues on their first UK trek in 2017 to garnering acclamatory coverage in The Guardian newspaper. Tonight’s debut Scottish show in Glasgow at The Garage is sold out, a circumstance that only took a single month. It’s incredible that the promoter didn’t upsize the venue to let more disappointed fans witness these cosmic meddlers in the flesh.

First up is German and Spanish SIJJIN, a new death/thrash collective that features bassist and vocalist Malte Gericke from the defunct NECROS CHRISTOS. They waste no time launching into Daemon Blessex from Sumerian Promises, their second album released this year. The sound is muddy and especially unforgiving to the guitarist, Erkaitz Garmendia. However, this is mostly rectified later when the sound becomes clearer and sharper. The trio successfully splices classic Bay Area thrash with its Teutonic analogue, while adorning some old school death metal, a la MORBID ANGEL and POSSESSED, into the unholy concoction. Five Blades and Religious Insanity Denies Slavery represent their debut album Heljjin Combat. The three-piece almost constantly headbang, and as the venue fills up quickly, the audience awards each song with voluminous ovation. Closing with Condem by Primal Contact, SIJJIN have left a positive impression on the city and hopefully won over some new converts.

Rating : 7/10

Next up is Finland’s ORANSSI PAZUZU, a haunting electro-experimental metal collective, who mystified this city just last year on a completely different type of metal line-up. Their music violently transcends genres and subgenres; there are atmospheric, industrial, trip hop, jazz, black metal, ambient drone, sludge, noise, prog rock influences and so much more. The result is something truly original yet psychotic, grandiose but claustrophobic, tortuous and torturous. Most of the five members wield keyboards, and all guitars are accompanied by a carpet of pedals. Even the black metal growls are armoured by various effects, subtracting any sense of humanity from them.

Last year’s Muuntautuja is an album that every fan of suffocating, oppressive music should listen to. Fortunately, the Finns air most of this release live tonight. Bioalkemisti is a bass-heavy psychonaut’s nightmare, the title track is a calculatingly sinister mental assault, while Hautatuuli has to be the most terrifying trip hop song committed to tape. While the crowd is mostly quiet throughout the set (presumably processing what the fuck they’re witnessing), the robust applauses suggest that they enjoy some part of the aural torment.

Rating: 9/10

The cosmic obelisks at either side of the stage light up their interstellar sigils just before headliners BLOOD INCANTATION crash land on stage. They waste no time opening with the entirety of The Stargate song from the wildly successful Absolute Elsewhere. This otherworldly hybridisation of death metal, inspired by IMMOLATION and GORGUTS, PINK FLOYD’s meandering prog rock and TANGERINE DREAM and OZRIC TENTACLES’ ethereal electronic soundscapes is intriguing, creative and addictive. The four-piece lineup is supplemented by a live keyboardist, John Gamiño, imbuing the music with an extraterrestrial atmosphere. The sound is delectable and doesn’t diminish the intricacies these Americans have layered the metal with.

After The Stargate is over, guitarist and vocalist Paul Riedl asks someone in the front row to flip the record. The attendee doesn’t realise that the frontman wants her to mime flipping a vinyl over to start the other side of the record, and it takes a while for her to fully understand, seemingly long after the rest of the audience gets the point. Next up, we’re launching through the second half of the album: The Message. This collection of three parts dials up the intensity with particularly chug-heavy death metal, but also dulcet CYNIC-inspired leads and unabashed PINK FLOYD worship. It takes some time but eventually, the audience does warm up to terraforming the venue via moshing and crowd surfing. Playing all of Absolutely Elsewhere is a flawless idea, and perfect decisions don’t end there. The band adds in some older numbers, introducing new fans to older material – the vicious death metal-concentrated The Giza Power Plant and The Vth Tablet (Of Enûma Eliš).

BLOOD INCANTATION leave the stage to rapturous acclamation, the entire hall remaining steadfast for an encore. They’re rewarded with the disquieting Meticulous Soul Devourment interlude from the outstanding Starspawn debut album. This is stalked by the frenzied and tumultuous Obliquity of the Ecliptic from the Luminescent Bridge EP. Following this one and a half hour abduction, it’s safe to say these ambitious astral conspiracy theorists put their peers to shame. Such a flawless performance, bristling with outlandish technical prowess and ethereal ambience, is rare to strike these shores. Hopefully, BLOOD INCANTATION will return to Glasgow on their next European cruise at a significantly roomier venue.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Glasgow from Alan Swan Photography here: 

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