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

Having found myself on a miniature tech-death jaunt this past couple of weeks I noticed that the highly acclaimed sophomore form Blood Incantation sat at a lowly two out of five rating in my spreadsheet where I catalogue all my albums.  This seemed harsh, even by my grumpy standards, I mean normally if I rate something so low then I don't keep it in all honesty and I also am usually clear on why it was so offensive to me.  With this one though I had no instant recollection of why I could have hated it so much so I decided to get a few more spins in over the past week to try and clear the fog somewhat.

Firstly, this is music made by talented individuals and the musicianship on display here is top notch.  Is it a little too much for me at times?  Yes.  Yes, it is.  The eighteen minute closing track (which shall not be named for conscious effort to keep the review succinct) is exhausting to say the least, notwithstanding that it does give some rewards as it moves through ambient and progressive passages, it still does not feel all that remarkable to me.  I would compare it to a multiple course dinner menu, too much in there for no obvious benefit.  And just as with aforementioned menu I can choose to leave whatever I don't find appealing and after a few minutes of that closing track I am doing other things or looking to put something else on.

Secondly, the production job on here is terrible for the large part.  I feel for the first half of the record I am fighting with it as I alter the volume, tone and balance on my speakers to try and get some sense of what is actually going on and in all honesty the production is a massive blocker to my enjoyment of this record.  Ironically I think it serves the sound best on the final track when I lose the record to its touch of excess content.  Thirdly (and finally) I just feel the hype is never quite lived up to.  As much as I acknowledge the skill of the delivery, there is nothing particularly scintillating here and the vocals lag behind the rest of the performances (albeit not well assisted by that production job).  On the plus side I have increased the rating from a two to a three.  Every cloud...