Absolutely beautiful release! This is a really unique experience, and a truly admirable piece of work. Easily one of the greatest albums of the year, and my favorite Blood Incantation album!



Top Releases of 2024

The experimental ambient/death combo is pretty impressive, I have to say. The soft parts are undoubtedly much better than the unremarkable heavy, but both second movements are fantastic. I don't really get the rating at all, but hey, the people have spoken.

Probably nothing I'll revisit, but certainly a good death metal album.

Wondering if we are having a new album in the top 200 after 6 years

Holy mother of a cow! This is actually a brilliant album. New metal albums rarely catch me off guard anymore, so many of them sound and feel the same one way or another. Blood Incantation are smarter than that. Between all those death metal parts there's plenty of nice ambient pieces, and it all flows perfectly. Nothing here feels done to death or boring.

Upon further listening I actually don't think that highly of the first half, the wow factor for me doesn't begin until the second half, the last two songs, particularly the closing epic, are fantastic. One thing I will say is it's unlike anything else I've heard this year. I know overall ratings aren't the most important factor but I'll admit it's very hard not to take notice of the overall rating here, but then I also remember Wintersun having a similar high score early on, and that didn't last. On the overall impression I get from other listeners though, I believe the score will remain quite high, whether it makes the top all-time 200, well we'll have to wait and see.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.10.2024 at 08:20

Upon further listening I actually don't think that highly of the first half, the wow factor for me doesn't begin until the second half, the last two songs, particularly the closing epic, are fantastic.

I agree ... imo the Pink Floyd love affair with Death Metal really starts to bloom on the "the Message" songs

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 06.10.2024 at 08:20

I know overall ratings aren't the most important factor but I'll admit it's very hard not to take notice of the overall rating here, but then I also remember Wintersun having a similar high score early on, and that didn't last.

These are bloated score spammed by voterfans, and eventually it gonna dry down, but that doesn't change the fact that how BI surprised me with a new album.

As someone who doesn't listen to death metal as a genre at all: this is incredible. Consistently interesting and pleasant to listen to from start to finish. The variety is so tasteful, every part is justified. Oriental breaks are heavenly. And yes, the closer is absolutely insane. This is definitely one of the best records the genre has to offer

Written by MadHatter on 06.10.2024 at 11:27

As someone who doesn't listen to death metal as a genre at all [...] This is definitely one of the best records the genre has to offer

How would you know bro

Written by Roman Doez on 06.10.2024 at 12:39

How would you know bro

Maybe the fact that I don't listen to it doesn't mean I never tried, in my 20+ journey with heavy music? You need receipts or what?

Written by MadHatter on 06.10.2024 at 13:12

Written by Roman Doez on 06.10.2024 at 12:39

How would you know bro

Maybe the fact that I don't listen to it doesn't mean I never tried, in my 20+ journey with heavy music? You need receipts or what?

Perhaps that it's barely even death metal could be why?

Written by gavdann on 06.10.2024 at 14:17

Perhaps that it's barely even death metal could be why?

I mean, maybe. It is a blend of many things, I agree, of which death is just one. But as a blend, it's well crafted. Nile comes to mind immediately for Egyptian references and oriental stuff, but I don't know, here it's not an ornament, but parts of the overall flow. One needs balls and a solid vision to pull off something like this, imo they did it.

Written by gavdann on 06.10.2024 at 14:17

Perhaps that it's barely even death metal could be why?

By its very nature, as an amalgamation, that is kind of true. But the death metal parts still have old school death metal qualities when it comes to composition. So I wouldn't call those barely death metal.

And on a personal note, even though I find those parts of the record to be weaker, I still think they're good.

This is just the bomb! Adept for album of the year and I can't rate it any other way than 10

The second half is way better than the first for sure, but this is really good in both the death metal and space/prog rock parts and it works really well together. Not likely gonna be my aoty but still among the best I’ve heard this year and certainly my favorite death metal album I’ve heard.

Awesome new album, it starts out ominous, you know your about to hear something amazing when you hear the start of first track, but i feel like it dont unload it right away, track two builds atmosphere, after that the album really picks it up, the heavier parts have that classic DM feel, catchy riffs, awesome solo work and licks, the way this band maintains the classic death metal feel while adding the sci fi space element is awesome, for sure right up there with they're other 2 albums, this album takes what Star and Hidden did and takes it a little further, while keeping true to death metal roots.

I Was hoping we'd might get a rare 9 with this album but looks like it'll just miss the mark.

Absolutely incredible.
I like their first 2 albums a good bit but they didn't blow me away.

This blew me straight away, and I'm past thinking "death metal album of the year" and more "death metal album of the 2020s", which to me, it is thus far.

After revisiting it, I still won't change my score. In my opinion, if this band only does ambient experimental music, or only does death metal, I might give it a higher score, but they just want to combine the two in an abrupt form. I have always believed that for music, blindly stitching together various styles cannot be a necessary condition for its excellence, and paying tribute to the music styles of predecessors cannot be a political correctness for judging the quality of music. For this album, when I was immersed in the ambient parts, the sudden drum beats and guitar riffs broke everything, which killed its rhythm. Finally, this album is still not satisfactory in terms of mixing and production. Seven points is already the most respectful score I can give it. Maybe I will try their first two albums later, hoping to give me a better experience.