Blood Incantation played Cambridge – 9/23

Interstellar death metal marauders Blood Incantation played a rare Massachusetts date with support from NYC’s Funeral Leech and locals Mourned.

Of the numerous ways in which I felt robbed by 2020, never seeing Blood Incantation bring any of the material from their towering late-2019 LP Hidden History of the Human Race to the stage ranked near the top. The Colorado quartet don’t do a whole lot of touring even during a non-plague-year, so their Saint Vitus Valentine’s Day shows were their only 2020 east coast plans even before, uh, all that other stuff happened. At any rate, I missed those shows and have been kicking myself for it ever since. Thankfully, the band made it back our way this fall. and made the wait worthwhile.

Blood Incantation make what is, to me, the ideal form of death metal: dazzlingly technical, bracingly heavy, prone to psychedelic diversions and spooky interludes, and primarily concerned with the unknowable void of space. They delivered plenty of that last Thursday during a generous set that encompassed the entirety of Hidden History and a sizable helping of their 2016 debut Starspawn. It absolutely ripped, to put it succinctly, cementing this band as one of the best doing it right now onstage and off.

Check out a gallery, including an imposing set from Funeral Leech and a super fun, hardcore-infused one from Mourned, below.