When a band releases a seminal, genre defining record, the follow up can be a bit tricky. After the third-eye opening death metal opus of Hidden History of the Human Race, I wasn’t sure where else Blood Incantation could go. That record perfectly mixed their death metal brutality and proggy sonic exploration in a way that neither undermined the other.
Well…at least it seemed perfect until Absolute Elsewhere. While their brand of punishing death metal is still at the beating heart of this record, it strays further from that center than ever before. I’m not sure anyone could do a better job of explaining it than vocalist/guitarist Paul Reidl, who said it sounds “like the soundtrack to a Herzog-style sci-fi epic about the history of/battle for human consciousness itself, via a ’70s prog album played by a ’90s death metal band from the future.”
When Punk exploded in 1977, the dam burst so hard it left a crater. It didn’t take very long for the maelstrom of no-frills sonic intensity to suck up other elements. Post-punk emerged almost immediately, deconstructing punk into unrecognizable shapes. Post-punk in turn splintered into its own series of subgenres—most notably, new wave and gothic rock.
If it accomplished nothing else, God, Get Me the F*** Out of Here proved that shoegaze and hip hop aren’t entirely without overlap. Cold Gawd plugged their reverb pedals into their fuzz boxes and played with the spirit of hip hop. Only two years later, the SoCal outfit is back with a record that turns that concept up to eleven.