Best of 2024

 1) Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

I often think about what artistic expression would look like if artists didn't have to worry about paying bills, if they could devote every ounce of their attention to their vision regardless of whether or not that vision is economically viable, marketable, readily consumable by the masses.

I think about this because even in a world where people are forced to whore themselves to powers outside of their control there are clear examples where artists do it anyway, devote years to a project with no potential ROI in mind. But, how can you identify when this happens, what are the hallmarks of a complete un-fucked-with by the producers vision. This question has been rattling around my head all week when thinking about what to write here.

The best answer I can come up with is when the artist goes well outside of their skillset to complete the vision. It's so complete in their minds that it transcends the limits of the artist, it takes shape in unexpected ways, ways the artist has no choice but to flesh out conceptually and make their best effort to execute. The vision becomes obsession that needs to "finished."

Absolute Elsewhere has this quality. Before this record I viewed Blood Incantation as dabbling, experimenting, playing, making the connections necessary for the vision to begin taking shape. As it became more concrete they took their ideas to Hansa Tonstudios in Berlin, a place haunted by the presence of past projects by Bowie and Nick Cave. There they collaborated with musical giants well outside of death metal because they knew this wasn't just a cosmic death metal album. It was something more. They documented this recording process to invite prospective audiences in, to give them a taste of how captured they were.

It didn't stop there. Then they created a 20 minute long short film to visually represent the first half of the record. And this isn't just a little home movie, it is a deeply creative, occasionally silly, existential journey through what they term The Stargate.

It's this sort of complete vision I'm always hunting for, transcending style, transcending medium, transcending expectation.