Man, I dig Denver cosmic death metallers Blood Incantation’s chosen path, putting out four- and five-song full lengths, kicking off albums with incredibly lengthy songs, just absolutely doing things their own way. Their own way continues on second full-length Hidden History Of The Human Race, one that has many eyes on this buzzed-about band. Early reports focused on the oopsie of the cover art already having been used by another band, but now that the tunes are in our hands, it’s readily apparent that that’s what we need to be talking about. 

Opener “Slave Species Of The Gods” does in five and a half minutes what many DM bands search their whole careers to do: create atmosphere and vibe, two things that Blood Incantation have reigned supreme at for a while now. From blasting grinding guttural DM to technical asides to slower, space-creating moments, the band is absolutely on fire here. “The Giza Power Plant” reimagines Obituary’s caveman stomp as technical, spacey DM, or takes Nile’s technical, Egyptian DM through outer space and back to the swamps of Florida, depending on how you look at it; the slow-burning “Inner Paths (To Outer Space)” has both the most Blood Incantation-y title I could have hoped for and a fantastic Cynic-ish tripped out, mellow-tech DM vibe, soaring guitar work and all. The excellently titled, 18-minute closer “Awakening From The Dream Of Existence To The Multidemensional Nature Of Our Reality (Mirror Of The Soul)” manages to bring to mind the crisp, energetic technical death of Death’s last album, the cavernous spelunking of modern Immo-crushing knuckle-draggers, and the glorious, craggly death/doom majesty of early Paradise Lost all in one song (well, one very long song, but, still). Hidden History Of The Human Race is just an excellent record start to finish, and that 36-minute runtime is going to guarantee I come back for more from this exciting young band.