Review by Daniel for Blood Incantation - Hidden History of the Human Race (2019)

I’ve been meaning to give high regarded Canadian death metallers Blood Incantation’s 2019 sophomore album “Hidden History Of The Human Race” a proper review ever since giving it a few casual spins shortly after release but somehow it’s taken me a full three years to get there which is more of an indication of how broad my musical passions are than anything else as there’s a very lengthy queue for my attention these days. You see, despite really enjoying the record upon first listen it very quickly became obvious that it requires “active listening” to take in all of the nuances, particularly given the dense & cavernous production job & tendency to drift into progressive self-indulgence & atmospherics at times. But here I am, fully prepared for what’s in front of me & open to emulating the extreme adoration of metalheads around the globe if the merit’s there.

It's interesting that so many people comment on how great the production job on “Hidden History Of The Human Race” is because it has it’s faults in my opinion. It does tend to sound pretty murky at times which really works for a band like Incantation but can limit the effectiveness of a more complex artist like Blood Incantation clearly aspire to be. You can certainly make out everything that’s going on but a little bit more clarity & definition in those guitars could have elevated things a bit in my opinion. The cover artwork is another source of adoration that I find interesting. It’s an attractive image of course but does it successfully highlight the dark death metal atmosphere Blood Incantation are capable of or does it really come off as being a little try-hard & portray the band as a bunch of nerdy conspiracy theorists? I tend to lean towards the latter in all honesty but let’s not let that get in the way of what is really a very solid death metal record.

The programming of the tracklisting is a topic that needs unpacking because I think the band’s management got it a little wrong by opening with the most traditional death metal number & gradually getting more progressive & expansive over the four tracks. Brutal opener “Slave Species Of The Gods” doesn’t really leave you with an accurate depiction of what to expect from the rest of the album & I think it would have been a better idea to place it after “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)” in the track 3 position with the eighteen minute prog death epic coming immediately after it. In its current configuration though we see the album opening without much deviation from the classic Morbid Angel death metal model with the dense production job giving it an atmosphere that reminds me of countrymen Tomb Mold. Second track “The Giza Power Plant” sees the riff structures immediately getting a little techier with the first signs of a more expansive approach taking the form of some Nile-influenced middle-Eastern melodies & themes. But the real gold here can be found when Blood Incantation release the shackles that are holding back their self-indulgences & go for a completely progressive approach with instrumental third track “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)” being the finest example of this in my opinion. The first half of that track sees the band opting for a more stripped back & melodic post-metal sound before taking off into fully fledged progressive metal similar to Cynic & finally returning to their death metal roots during the climax. To my ears the first half of this track is the perfect amalgamation of the band’s influences & ambitions but that’s not to discount the strength of the gargantuan eighteen-minute progressive death metal excursion that is closing number “Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)” mind you. This monster piece sees Blood Incantation working all of their various influences & components into the one composition that takes numerous exciting twists & turns through disparate locations like space ambient & doom/death without ever losing its natural flow. It can sound a little artsy (i.e. progressive for the sake of being progressive) at times but I think it offers enough musical substance to see it overcoming those aspersions & it ends up being the perfect way to end what was a relatively short album with a surprisingly large amount of ideas. It kinda reminds me of The Chasm’s more ambitious works in that respect.

So is “Hidden History Of The Human Race” the genuine progressive death metal classic it was made out to be at the time? Hhhhmmmm…. the short answer is no it’s not. The musicianship & execution is very good but I do think the vocals sound pretty generic. The sci-fi themes work well but I can’t say that I enjoyed the band’s progressive take on death metal as much as I do their major influences as I tend to think I’d be more likely to reach for Timeghoul’s 1994 “Panaramic Twilight” demo when I’m in the mood for this sort of thing. I just don’t think that Blood Incantation hit my death metal sweet spot as often as I’d need to be placing a record like this one on the very top shelf despite its obvious class & credentials. Still, this is a very high quality death metal release that oozes of underground credibility while simultaneously ticking more than its fair share of creative boxes so fans of the progressive death metal sound will undoubtedly find a lot to enjoy here.

For fans of Timeghoul, The Chasm & Tomb Mold.