Does the North American traditional Death Metal have a future keeping its classic elements? Can the inheritance given by POSSESSED, DEATH, MASSACRE, MASTER, AUTOPSY and others endure in the future that’s coming? These questions are important, because no musical genre can stay the same for eternity, because it could mean that the original releases of “Seven Churches”, “Leprosy”, “From Beyond”, “Master”, “Severed Survival” meant nothing, and they must be done again and again, what means that the bands must stay trapped in circles. But their music can stay the same, just evolving a bit to adjust things to the musicians ideas and histories (no one is equal to the other, so don’t expect that a new Chuck Schuldiner, but a different guy to start a new musical revolution into the genre). A band can play Death Metal as traditional as it is, but at the same time, it must write its own history. Some are up to such trial and dare to defy rules and win, and one of them is the quartet BLOOD INCANTATION, of Denver (Colorado). Their Single “Luminescent Bridge” depicts such fact.

As expected by the words above, they work on a traditional Death Metal trench usual in the 90s, with some technical moments and broken rhythms, along some dissonant harmonies. But on their music lies a personality that allows them to use all the clichés left by the veterans and create something different, something that is theirs, as contrasting grunts and snarls with Gothic-like vocals, introspective and deep moments inherited from Progressive Rock with a Jazz-like technical appeal, touches of Psychedelic music of the 70s, and even some melodic duets on the guitar solos (maybe a trace of how U.S. Metal influences the band’s musical work). But again: they bear the energy, aggressiveness and brutality of the traditional Death Metal of North American acts. In other words: it’s classic Death Metal, but with a step ahead into the future.

They worked on studio with Chris McNaughton on the recordings, and Arthur Rizk on the mixing and mastering. All was done to create a rough and distorted sonority that keeps the trademarked elements of the genre (especially on the instrumental tunes), but allowing refinements to keep things clean and defined. It means that the quartet and the guys above worked a lot on the recording sessions and mixing on Rocky Mountain Recorders Studio. And the artwork created by Steve R. Dodd reflects something of “2001: A Space Odyssey”, the film of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke. The only ‘sin’ of this release is to have only two songs, because the more you hear and understand what these are up to, the more a door will open for you for a new world of conceptions and ideas.

“Obliquity of the Ecliptic” lasts 9min14sec, contrasting brutal and distorted traditional Death Metal elements with the courage to dare and create something different, with contrasts of oppressive Death Metal parts (where bass guitar and drums shows excellent technical parts, and the grunts temper things) with a charming technical appeal, and then the Progressive Rock elements arises to temper it all, with excellent melodies on the guitar solos. But one must pay attention: the song is coherent, not dispersive (by the way, the word ‘ecliptic’ defines a geometric Euclidian plan that contains Earth orbiting around the Sun). The official video reminds something saw/read on “Da Vinci Code”, the opus of Dan Brown.

“Luminescent Bridge” is a 10min instrumental, where all the experimental/Avant-garde/Psychedelic side of the band’s music is shown, with keyboards contrasting with the other instruments. But pay attention: it’s not a Death Metal song in the hardest sense of the term. Ok, only two songs are enough to define things, but “Luminescent Bridge” can be just a ‘warm up’ release for a new album. And let’s hope that BLOOD INCANTATION can be writing a new history on Metal.