Blood Incantation leaves the guitars alone for a while on this pure and beautiful synthesizer record ★★★★☆

The American band Blood Incantation, a by nature quite brutal metal band, is doing something completely different. The pointed guitars remained in the case, as did the bass, and the drums had to be replaced Timewave Zero not to be built up. The successor to the great psychedelic metal record Hidden History of the Human Race from 2019 is played with purely synthesizers, served by all four band members. According to Blood Incantation, there is talk of a one-off experiment, but you would hope that there will be a sequel.

because Timewave Zero is a rich electronic trip album, with which the Americans seem to pay tribute to the great bands from the synthesizer past, from Tangerine Dream to Popol Vuh. The two pieces Io and ea, each of twenty minutes of pure playing time, emit a heavy buzzing sound, including even deeper bass waves, ready to erupt. Gradually, the pieces become more melodic: small arpeggios appear from afar, in increasingly expansive electronic soundscapes, in which a soft acoustic guitar also briefly plays around the corner.

The sound palette is versatile, sometimes sinister and then again cozy and warm. And although the men build a monotonous ambient work around you, you are still carried away by the dynamics in the composition, which especially gains profile when you listen carefully, with your eyes closed and the volume of the headphones wide open. The first part of the piece ea is a sonic dream and is one of the most beautiful, pure synthesizer pieces of recent years. If you purchase the record on CD, you will receive a blu-ray with stately computer animations full of otherworldly landscapes. What a lovely, escapist treat.