Interview with Paul Riedl of BLOOD INCANTATION

Hi Paul! Your sound has evolved a lot. How do you mix your death metal roots with your new, more experimental directions on Absolute Elsewhere?
Hi Stanley, thanks for your interest. I will say, I don’t think our sound has actually evolved very much, as we have no “new” nor “more experimental” directions on Absolute Elsewhere compared to any of our past works. What you are hearing is simply our increased physical abilities in regards to both performance and arrangement, which creates a more successful blending of our lasting interests and musical influences. I will point you to our first studio recording from 2013, Interdimensional Extinction, which opens with a synthesizer drone and a Tibetan singing bowl, where each track features Moog synthesizer, atmospheric acoustic guitars, and ominous clean chanting. Throughout the demo, you can hear influences from Black Metal, Speed/Heavy Metal, Technical/Progressive as well as Old School Death Metal, Funeral Doom, and Experimental/World Music. More or less the same mixture of ingredients as heard on our new album, wouldn’t you agree? The difference is that for our demo, we could barely play, and our songs were severely hampered by our physical limitations at the time, not as much by our lack of ambition to combine these elements. Similarly, one can detect very clear Krautrock/Psychedelic influences all over Starspawn, such as in “Hidden Species” or “Vitrification of Blood”, each with blatant Pink Floyd parts, as well as instrumental Ambient/Experimental music as heard in “Meticulous Soul Devourment”. I should not have to point out the purely instrumental Progressive Metal of “Inner Paths (to Outer Space)” or the nearly 20-minute epic suite “Awakening From the Dream of Existence to the Multidimensional Nature of Our Reality (Mirror of the Soul)” from Hidden History of the Human Race, but in case anyone has missed that album, it is again full of intense genre-splicing and a wild range of Experimental directions mixed with Death Metal. Likewise, I don’t think the Psychedelic/Progressive mixture on Absolute Elsewhere is any more extreme than the atmospheric Drone/Dark Ambient minimalism of Timewave Zero. So you can see, our sound has been established since the very beginning of our band, with each album showcasing more effectively our goals of combining these various elements – it is simply most audible now, thanks to a decade of heavy touring and actively working to increase our techniques, which helped to manifest our craziest album yet, Absolute Elsewhere.

You’ve called Absolute Elsewhere the “most potent audial trip yet.” How does this album represent the battle for human consciousness, and how did you capture that in the music?
I would guess that you’ve not had access to the lyrics with the promotional advance materials? (Nope, I didn’t. – ed.) Feel free to reach out to me after the interview and I can send them over, as this question can be answered by reading them, especially “The Message”. The lyrics to this new album speak directly to the listener, conveying thoughts and mysticism taught by all mystery schools throughout the ages, but framed in an easy to understand manner. Your readers will have the chance to discover this for themselves. After consciously absorbing the album while reading the lyrics, each listener is given a choice – what comes next is up to them, as they are each their own soldier in their own personal battle for their own consciousness.

You worked with some notable artists. How did these collaborations come about, and what did they add to the album?
Nicklas Malmqvist, from the incredible Swedish prog band Hällas, plays guest lead synthesizers, pianos, Mellotron and Hammond organ on all tracks. As on past albums, we also each play synths – but Nicklas is a true professional, and the results are outstanding. We first met Hällas back in 2018, when both Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice played some festivals with them in Germany, Norway and Switzerland. We have always been impressed by their arrangements and tremendously ’70s sound, so when it came time to consider guests on Absolute Elsewhere Nicklas was our premiere choice. We gave him a mixtape with rough preproduction recordings for the album when they played in Denver earlier in the year, and he came to the studio for 3 or 4 days about halfway through the session, truly elevating our initial ideas for all of the synth parts. We are happy to report that he is going to perform the album release show with us as well as the first leg of our worldwide “Absolute ElseTour”, which is currently booked through Fall 2025.

Malte Gericke, formerly of underground icons Necros Christos and currently leading Sijjin, was more spontaneous. He found out we were recording in Berlin and got my number through a mutual friend, and came by the rehearsal space (where we were for 10 days prior to entering Hansa) a few times just to hang out and drink some beers while we practiced. During these relaxed times, we showed him our then-unannounced Luminescent Bridge maxi-single and Malte helped us to develop the ideas for our upcoming music video for “Obliquity of the Ecliptic”, which was to be filmed on the very last day in Hansa studios (downstairs in the Meistersaal) – he actually stars in the video, as the priest officiating the interdimensional ritual. Anyway, Malte is a huge Krautrock and Prog fanatic, obsessed with many of the same bands as we are, and we talked a lot about obscure 70s albums, and when it came up that we were hoping to have some German vocals during a particularly Eloy-esque section in “The Message”, he was happy to oblige us. He came to the studio a few times just to listen, as well, and on his last visit ended up doing some additional growls in his classic Necros voice, which we think are just great. Growing up in West Berlin, when Hansa was still behind the wall, it meant a lot for him to be able to record at the legendary studio, and it was an honor for us to have him on board. You can actually see the exact take which ended up on the recording in our upcoming feature length documentary film All Gates Open: In Search of Absolute Elsewhere.

Thorsten Quaeschning, leader of Tangerine Dream since founder Edgar Froese’s death (and under his specific request, continues the band into the future), was a bit more of a process. Our managements had been in talks for several leading up to the recording, but no concrete plan seemed to develop. Initially, we simply offered for the members of Tangerine Dream to come by Hansa Tonstudios, as it might be interesting for them to see the exact rooms in which Force Majeure had been recorded back in 1979. Eventually, Thorsten appeared one morning with a MIDI and asked us to bounce down the rough tracks for him to take home to his studio. We played the entire album for him, at the time instrumental, and it was uncertain whether he understood or appreciated what we were going for, but a week later we were in his private studio being utterly blown away by his haunting Mellotron melodies and iconic sequencer work – straight out of mid-70s Tangerine Dream! In the words of today’s youth, he understood the assignment, and we couldn’t be more excited to have worked together in this historical merging of timelines.

The album draws on Erich Von Daniken’s ideas. How do these influences shape the story of “The Stargate” and “The Message”?
The album does not draw on Erich Von Daniken’s ideas, and our band is not influenced by them – our record is merely named after the band Absolute Elsewhere, who’s 1978 album In Search of Ancient Gods does draw from those ideas, but for us is just a great album title. Both records are dynamic, adventurous and exceedingly cosmic in their atmosphere and presentation, but the ideas behind Von Daniken’s theories are far more interesting to us than any of his books.

The documentary All Gates Open gives a behind-the-scenes look at the album. How did it feel to have this process filmed, and what does the film capture about this time for the band?
This was a really great opportunity and we are very grateful to Century Media for being interested and able to coordinate such an undertaking. Having a film crew coming and going throughout the session, and occasionally following us around Berlin during rehearsals, photoshoots, record shopping and other behind-the-scenes activities was really fun. In fact, we actually wished they were there more often, as many magical moments were missed! But the documentary is nonetheless a wonderful piece, and we’re so happy to have it it as a way to always look back on that amazing experience – and especially to be able to show our fans a slice of life from those days.

The Stargate Research Society and the new planet discovery add an interactive element. How do you think this will deepen fans’ connection to the album?
The Elsewhere Searcher app is something we have wanted to do for a few years, in various ideas, but we didn’t know anyone who could make such a device – which is a combination of fan interaction, marketing, and fun, while not being burdensome – while fitting it into our overall concept. It was designed by Lee Martin, who is a bit of a wizard in the digital world and has done similar launch campaigns for much larger bands than ours. He’s friends with our management company, who put us in touch. The Discord server is simply a place for fans to congregate, discuss their findings within the app, and hopefully discover new music and ideas from each other, while also having first access to any new Blood Incantation information. All of these things combine to create a unique entryway into the world for Absolute Elsewhere, which deserved a release campaign as interesting and unique as the album itself. Thankfully there are still other surprises in store for you and the fans, so make yourself ready.

You’ve described the album as a “Herzog-style Sci-Fi epic.” How do you translate these cinematic ideas into extreme music?
I think it is less about how we translate these cinematic ideas, and more about the listener’s experience of them. The album is deeply visual and evocative of cosmic realms, traveling through time and space, and pulling the listener deep into both the far future as well as the ancient past. Herzog’s films are known for their moodiness, eccentricity and bucolic imagery which tie excellently with the music – Absolute Elsewhere does the same, at least to us.

How did creating Timewave Zero influence Absolute Elsewhere, and what did you learn from that ambient project?
I think we would not have been able to make Absolute Elsewhere without having gone through the emotional and musical processes we underwent during Timewave Zero’s creation. As mentioned extensively in interviews during that album cycle, we took down all of the metal backline and improvised together with our synths for over a year, still keeping to our usual rehearsal cycle of 4-6 days per week, 4-8 hours per day. Having no distortion, volume, or drums to hide behind, we learned a lot about ourselves as well as each other during those sessions – in fact, we had to re-learn how to communicate with each other musically without relying on any of the crutches of metal performance. During 2020, since we could not tour, we invested heavily on upgrading our practice space with a computer, recording interface and various equipment so that we could record hours and hours of improvised music – some of which you will be able to hear on the upcoming All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack). Finally in early 2021, we began actively composing “Io” and “Ea”, being able to draw on ideas captured while recording, as well as utilizing new techniques only capable after so much time was spent improvising together. Another critical aspect to this time period was that each member contributed equally for the first time; Timewave… is thus the most collaborative and group effort of any Blood Incantation release, which each person’s individual voice and style being heard in equal measure amongst the other’s. Looking back, it easy to see that Timewave… opened up the landscape for BI’s musical ideas to really flourish, but at the time, we were compelled mostly by a need to explore. To a casual listener, Timewave Zero may seem sparse and monotonous, but when truly listened to – as opposed to merely hearing it – it reveals a deep, cinematic landscape full of emotions and subtle textures, perfectly suitable for a planetarium soundtrack or other visual accompaniment of a journey through space. There exists a sentiment to think that it was so divisive, and that there was considerable “backlash” upon its release, but this was never actually the case – it was simply that, as usual, those with the least to say end up saying it the loudest, creating an illusion of collective uproar, but the truth is that Timewave Zero sold, and continues to sell, very well, and opened up many more doors for us than it closed. Most importantly, it prepared us to create our most aggressive, ambitious, beautiful and atmospheric release yet – Absolute Elsewhere.

Steve R. Dodd’s artwork is a key part of the album. Why did you choose his work, and how does it fit with the music?
Thank you, we really love it. All Blood Incantation releases (except our split 7” and live 12”) have classic space paintings from the 1970s & 1980s; Interdimensional Extinction and Hidden History of the Human Race have artwork by Bruce Pennington; Starspawn and Timewave Zero have artwork by Don Dixon; and Luminescent Bridge and Absolute Elsewhere have artwork by Steve R. Dodd. These complimentary pairings are all part of the overarching aesthetic, with each lending itself to the gradual expansion of the overall concept. When looking at our releases, one can easily discern “Ah, this is clearly Blood Incantation”, which is likewise important to the development of the BI visual cosmos in the sense that each landscape depicted on the various artworks could theoretically be a new location within the same universe; each illustration expands the perspective of the world(s) our music is exploring, if that makes sense. All of these paintings, except Steve Dodd’s, are decades old and were previously published as book and magazine covers, so we worked directly with the estates of the artists themselves to officially license each one, and obtain the highest resolution scans. We knew the third album would require commissioned paintings, and it had taken us a few years to finally get in touch with Steve, but by the time we were working on Luminescent Bridge he was not able to do a custom piece. So, we licensed two contemporary pieces instead of old ones, giving him time to prepare for the Absolute Elsewhere paintings. In early 2023 we sent him a care package of our entire discography, along with a letter detailing our various interests and conceptual ambitions with the band, as well as some mixtapes of both upcoming and unreleased material, in order for him to fully immerse himself into the making of the new album. This letter, as well as his response, are included in the deluxe mediabook edition of the album.

I should mention that Steve is a very reclusive fellow; living in a small town, where he’s lived all his life, having no phone line, no computer or internet access, and communicates via snail mail with his own family (who also still live in the same small town). His sister Kay would facilitate the bulk of the information between us, and was tremendously helpful as well as supportive of our ideas. Steve himself mentioned that our music, particularly Timewave Zero and the mixtape containing instrumental preproduction demos of Absolute Elsewhere and some unreleased ambient improvisations, was great to paint to. So, the cover and inner gatefold art were actually painted while listening to the album in its rudimentary form, which we think is really amazing.

What was it like working with Arthur Rizk, and how did his style shape the album?
Arthur Rizk is a dear friend, an incredibly talented musician and an inspiring creative force. Working with him in any capacity, or even just being somewhere he is, gives one the feeling of participating in something important. Each of us had worked with him in the past with our other bands, such as Spectral Voice and Wayfarer who both recorded at his studio in Philadelphia, and I personally have spent quite a few years working with him privately on a dozen of my solo releases (Hoverkraft, hanging moss, Paul Riedl, etc), so we were totally confident in his ability to make something truly powerful, while still retaining the essence of our overall concept. Arthur had recorded at Hansa with Kreator a few years ago, and, knowing we are all fanatics of 70s/80s Prog, Krautrock and experimental/Kosmische music, somewhat recklessly floated the idea to us that we, too, should try to record some metal in the legendary studio.

One of Art’s many strengths as a producer is tact – he knows just what to say to each person, in order to get the best take out of them. Sometimes the studio can be tense, with artists generally being sensitive people, and a lot of vulnerability going on with the shared creativity and everyone wanting to do their best. But this is never an issue with Mr Rizk; he excels at cultivating the most hospitable and supportive environment imaginable. I’ve never worked with someone who does this so well, it’s truly a blessing working with him. All fun, but so serious – completely free but resolutely focused. We were a team on a mission, and he’s a true captain, full of great ideas and reflections. His ear, obviously, is also quite tremendous – and his mixes showcase his ability to hear much further than most as far as what could be a useful snippet of sound, however buried and obscure, which ultimately serves to “imperceptibly” enhance the mix and the listener’s experience of the music. His ability to work with whatever genre of music is thrown at him is also a critical asset; he does not have a signature “sound” he tries to imprint upon the bands so much as he has an identifiable “feeling” about his mixes. Some might say it’s simply drum-forward, which huge guitars, but Arthur’s touch is something more special, and his numerous accolades and increasingly-high-profile gigs are proof that something incredible is going on under the hood.

The album explores cosmic themes and extraterrestrial influence. How do these ideas resonate today, and what do you hope listeners take from it?
I think this is more a question for the listeners, and will depend on their understanding of the lyrics. There are no extraterrestrial themes in the lyrics, it is purely mysticism, symbolism, metaphor, and esoteric philosophy. The goal is for the listeners to take hope and inspiration from the album, not to imprint a particular ideology upon them. The point of the music and the album is to convey that, in a genre multiple decades old, so over-saturated and full of hundreds of masterpieces already, great things are still possible, and that Metal in general still has new places to go – if only people are willing to take it there themselves. I believe, as artists, that we all have a responsibility to create the very best art that we can, to actively contribute – as opposed to merely participating – in the cultivation and evolution of our scene and of the music itself. As there are far more Metal fans alive right now than have ever been before on this planet, to simply go along with a scene for the sake of itself is detrimental. What is critical is to inspire your peers as well as your fans towards manifesting the very best in themselves. Absolute Elsewhere is a clarion call to every person, musician or otherwise, to take the reigns of their own destiny seriously, and to contribute to life in a genuine, meaningful way.

The Luminescent Bridge single connects Timewave Zero and Absolute Elsewhere. How does that track fit into your musical evolution?
Musically and figuratively, the maxi-single is a bridge. However, it was never related to Timewave… or Absolute Elsewhere, and served more as a brief stopover for some remnant ideas that would not have fit on either release. In the simplest sense, Side A is Metal-turns-Ambient, and Side B is Ambient-turns-Metal, whereas on our previous releases each component was typically separated, and on the following album they are completely integrated. They were each separate pieces which allowed us to explore certain ideas independent from our new album, and it was also a useful release to indicate to anyone worried that, despite what the most insular private forums might espouse, we have never abandoned Metal, while also instilling a sense of mystery as to what our new album might actually entail. Isaac wrote “Obliquity of the Ecliptic” sometime after “The Stargate”, but it was clear that this piece did not fit in with the new material; Morris and Jeff wrote “Luminescent Bridge” originally as an acoustic interlude, similar to “Meticulous Soul Devourment” and “(Mirror of the Soul)”, but in the middle of recording we decided to forgo the acoustic instruments entirely, add drums and incorporate even more experimental sounds like piano and trombone. Both songs were originally meant to be 5 minutes or less, to fit on an aborted 7” EP idea, and took on new life immediately before and during the session, which was much more expansive and collaborative than our usual, razor-sharp methods of being totally certain how things would turn out before entering the studio, which was a result of the aforementioned Timewave… growth process. At the same time, the somewhat “relaxed” atmosphere of both songs served as a successful red herring, confounding people as to just what they could expect from Absolute Elsewhere, in the same way we released “Inner Paths…” as the first track from HHotHR, which was considerably more brutal than people might have expected from the single.

How did you approach creating the two movements, and why did you choose this format?
Having never shied away from long, sprawling songs, the two side-long tracks was an obvious and inevitable conclusion for what our next album should be. Again, this gets back to our original ideas for the band, and our ambitions mostly being limited by our physical abilities at the time. On the one hand, this is exactly the album we have always dreamed to make, with specific aspects of it having been discussed since our demo days, while on the other, many of the riffs and sequences actually predate our previous albums themselves – both 2019’s Hidden History of the Human Race as well as Starspawn from 2016. Generally speaking, Isaac began assembling the “The Stargate” during 2020-2021, and I did not start deciphering “The Message” until late 2022, despite many of the riffs being several years old. Morris also contributed the most he ever has to a BI album, compared to in the past having mostly stuck to the acoustic interludes and his great solos, and this brought even more ideas to the songwriting table than with just Isaac and I writing, many of which were critical to the final arrangements. With so many different moods and ideas in the final product, you can imagine it was rather difficult to begin sorting them out and arranging everything, as the total drawing board was very wide. But, all of this served to elevate the album into the many territories we managed to traverse.

Touring regularly makes it hard for us to truly immerse ourselves in the writing process, as we are always busy rehearsing old material for shows, or sets for our other bands. This is why our release schedule is perhaps “slow” by contemporary standards, but we would not want to be a band releasing an album every year anyway; taking our time is directly related to the quality of the result, in our experience. For this one, we blocked off everything from November 2022 – when we returned from Australia with Dead Congregation – until April 2023 – when we went out with Obituary and Immolation. It was during this roughly six months of dedicated writing time focused solely on the new album where everything started really gelling, though some crucial parts had nonetheless been floating around in the ether for years. We worked intensely: 6-7 days a week, beginning early in the morning and regularly finishing late, for months on end. We were also fine tuning tiny details up until the day before entering the studio in July 2023, so you could also say it was more like nine months of continuous focus. Once in the studio, things flow and change as the environment encourages, so we’re always open to spontaneity which aides the development of the song. So, to us, the creative process has been rather amorphous, long and far-reaching, and a culmination of many years, with ideas coming and going over time about what we might want to eventually attempt for the third album.

How does Absolute Elsewhere fit into the picture of Blood Incantation’s discography?
Like all of our albums, it is merely a document of our journey and of a specific time and place, relative to our individual and collective abilities at any given moment. Listening chronologically to our releases creates a very clear narrative structure, with the telescoping nature of our progression being easily visible. Each record enhances the qualities of the preceding one – everything is increased, be it extremity or ambience. Right now, there is no more accurate presentation of a Blood Incantation album than Absolute Elsewhere, and we look forward to carrying on in our usual tradition for the subsequent albums. You can always expect something different – one of our greatest strengths in standing out from our peers is that we have never settled to release the same album twice. A band which grows along with its audience, taking everyone involved on a collective journey through art, time, space, and the cosmos – would you really enjoy it more another way? We certainly wouldn’t. But, the objective is always growth, expansion, and exercising our creative freedom in ways that push ourselves as individuals as much as the listeners. Understanding this approach will give the listener a deeper appreciation of our total discography, seeing us as artists on a collective journey rather than merely a group of individuals releasing a series of albums just for the sake of it.

You’re offering both standard and Dolby Atmos/5.1 mixes. How did these formats enhance the listening experience? Thank you for your time!
We’ve wanted to do an Atmos mix for years – we actually tried to get Steven Wilson to do one for Timewave Zero, but he was busy with the then-unannounced new Porcupine Tree album. We did manage to get a 5.1 Surround sound mix for it, which is only available on the limited edition 2CD version, which contains a bonus track as well as a visual accompaniment disc with both stereo and 5.1 mixes of the album. I’ve only been able to experience it a few times, as I don’t have a stereo setup equipped for Surround sound, but it was very sick! I can only imagine how crazy Absolute Elsewhere will sound in such a context, and we were adamant that it is available more readily than on a limited edition. I think, in general, our music is perfect for these types of formats – there are so many hidden layers, subtle textures, and tiny details that are simply lost on people who listen on streaming services or things like laptop speakers or earbud headphones.

Pre-order album here: https://bloodincantation.lnk.to/AbsoluteElsewherePR