Prog/psych death metallers Blood Incantation have launched pre-orders for their upcoming album Absolute Elsewhere, and they also announced an accompanying documentary, All Gates Open: In Search Of Absolute Elsewhere. According to a press release, the 73-minute feature film tells the story of the band spending the summer of 2023 in Berlin and making the album at the world-famous Hansa Tonstudio (where David Bowie recorded Low and Heroes, Iggy Pop recorded The Idiot and Lust for Life, Tangerine Dream recorded Force Majeure, U2 recorded parts of Achtung Baby, and more). The two-minute trailer is out now, and it features Blood Incantation talking about Berlin, mixed with footage of them exploring the city and of their time at Hansa. Check it out below.
Blood Incantation will also release an original soundtrack for the documentary, All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), and that also includes the band’s 2023 single “Luminescent Bridge” on CD for the first time, along with a book featuring “exclusive liner notes, exclusive interviews, behind the scenes photos and a forward by Ross Dolan of Immolation.” Pre-orders for the film/book are up now too.
Absolute Elsewhere was named after Absolute Elsewhere, the short-lived ’70s prog band featuring King Crimson percussionist Bill Bruford, and vocalist/guitarist Paul Riedl calls it “our most potent audial extract/musical trip yet; like the soundtrack to a Herzog-style Sci-Fi epic about the history of/battle for human consciousness itself, via a 70s Prog album played by a 90s Death Metal band from the future. It’s broken up into two lengthy tracks, “The Stargate” and “The Message,” both of which clock in at over 20 minutes.
Absolute Elsewhere was produced by Arthur Rizk, and it features synths, Mellotron, and programming from Tangerine Dream’s Thorsten Quaeschning on “The Stargate [Tablet II]”,” synths/keys, piano, and Mellotron from Hällas’ Nicklas Malmqvist on the full album, and guest vocals by Malte Gericke (Sijjin/ex-Necros Christos) in his native tongue. It also features contemporary paintings by veteran sci-fi artist Steve R. Dodd. It arrives October 4 via Century Media.
Blood Incantation also recently launched the Stargate Research Society app/discord for discussions related to the band.