Review by Rexorcist for Blood Incantation - Live Vitrification (2018)

After having fallen in love with Starspawn, especially its thirteen minute openerand six minute sequel that serves as the namesake for this album, I was excited for this live piece.  Both pieces are played in one whole on this album.  I was really hoping for something incredible after the disappointment of their attempt at putting a live B-side on one of their earlier demos, so I was slightly weary of another life album that early in their career.  But as soon as I turn this on and the cheering stops, I'm practically shot in the head by death metal extremes with a giant-ass Remington.  Not only are the extremes on this live rendition of my favorite death metal song improved on, but I hear everything among the blackened noise.  Everything from the spoace-like ambiance to the blastbeats outperforms the studio comparison, so already half of the album is one of the greatest life performances I've ever heard.  Cloud 99, and you read that right.

But I listened to the ORIGINAL edition with the second track, which takes a dark / black ambient approach.  A real fan would check that out.  As well, I don't like the idea of cutting an album in half for future releases, so I'm sticking with this edition.  Now my first thought was that they could easily make it work, considering the inclusion of that effects-oriented folk song on side B of Starspawn.  The moment it turns on it sounds lo-fi, which isn't necessarily bad, but is usually bad.  A number of problems can associate from including a side B of a totally different genre, including loss of flow, loss of interest and an obvious inferiority from one genre to another.  But this is BLOOD INCANTATION.  We'll see how it goes.

Now even though I have given 100's to some special ambient pieces, I still often struggle with ten-minute plus ambient songs.  Even two minutes in, while I liked the direction it was going in well enough, it took a while for that wild personality the band cemented on their first EP to really show its colors.  Blodd Incantation had developed a habit of forcing the point on your in a quick yet lovable way, and although the dark ambient aspects are properly chilling throughout and do a damn good job relaxing me in tandem with my cinnamon coffee, this is also their first time in ambient.  They didn't manage to bring all the charm of their skills in reverb to this otherwise nice and calming track.  There are vocals in the background that give you some interesting dialogue on the natural world, life on other planets, and other sci-fi topics that work well for the vibe they're going for.  This is the kind of ambient track that successfully plants images in your head throughout the whole run.

It's pretty cute that Blood Incantation thinks they can just cut out a whole half.  I say, DEAL WITH IT.  You dug your own grave just as easily as you released practice EP's.  Besides, I believe every artist has the right to expand their horizons and practice.  If not for tracks like this, they wouldn't have ever made an album like their beloved Absolute Everywhere, so that second half is a piece of history, and I will judge the album with it in mind.  SO while the live track is easily one of the finest metal performances I've ever heard, this otherwise good ambient track doesn't fit perfectly well.  I still highly recommend this album for metalheads, though.

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