Few contemporary metal bands have expanded their artistic expression as fearlessly as BLOOD INCANTATION. With “Absolute Elsewhere” (Century Media, 2024), they exceeded every expectation surrounding progressive death metal and stepped into something far more cinematic, psychedelic and spiritually immersive. Now, with “All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”, they offer something even more fascinating: not a sequel, not a left-overs compilation, but the embryonic state of an era-defining work.
And that distinction matters.
To put things in their proper perspective, let me quote the band’s frontman Paul Riedl’s comment:
“It’s not the next album or follow-up to ‘Absolute Elsewhere’, it’s the soundtrack to the documentary about making the album with songs that are from before. The documentary deserves to be experienced, not just as content for the internet. The soundtrack captures the very first seed of what led to ‘Absolute Elsewhere’. This is where that era started.”
He further describes it as the “yang energy” to the shadowed atmospheres of the band’s 2022 EP, “Timewave Zero”.
What makes “All Gates Open” such an essential release is precisely the fact that it refuses to behave like a conventional companion piece. This is not an ambient record cynically designed to capitalize on the acclaim of its predecessor. Instead, these four lengthy compositions function like unearthed transmissions from the moment before ignition — the meditative inhale before the cosmic detonation.
I mentioned the word ambient. Well, composed in 2021, the album’s four captivating tracks reveal a radically different dimension of BLOOD INCANTATION’s sonic identity; so, be warned, this is NOT a metal genre release. But I think that this is already known since the material has been available as part of the deluxe “Absolute Elsewhere” Artbook (Century Media, 2024), yet now it finally emerges as a standalone release. There will, of course, be a new deluxe mediabook package, featuring the 73-minute “All Gates Open: In Search of Absolute Elsewhere” film on Blu-Ray, also including the documentary’s original soundtrack “All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)”, and BLOOD INCANTATION’s previously released maxi-single, “Luminescent Bridge” for the first time on CD, available October 4th by Century Media Records.
“All Gates Open: In Search of Absolute Elsewhere” tells the story of BLOOD INCANTATION’s time in Berlin during the summer of 2023, recording “Absolute Elsewhere” at the legendary Hansa Studios. Directed by Niklas Tschaikowsky and Tammo Dehn, the film offers an intimate and unfiltered look at the band’s creative process, daily life, and immersion into Berlin’s cultural fabric—featuring appearances by members of TANGERINE DREAM, HALLAS and SIJJIN.
Let’s dive into that time and the artistic transcendence that the band was going through, trying to describe the music which sonically revives it. Four artists, Paul Riedl (guitars, vocals), Isaac Faulk (drums), Morris Kolontyrsky (guitars), and Jeff Barrett (fretless bass), writing ground-breaking metal music about interstellar dimensions. Four tracks, “Balance”, “Flight”, “Dawn”, and “Rain” capturing beyond-words meanings and feelings about human creation and its place in the concept of the multiverse’s wholeness.
There is a raw exploratory spirit flowing through these pieces, a sense of musicians discovering pathways in real time rather than executing a fully mapped-out grand design. The synth improvisations, acoustic textures and drifting analog atmospheres feel deeply organic, almost pastoral in places, recalling the hypnotic serenity of ’70s Berlin School electronics while still carrying BLOOD INCANTATION’s genuine metaphysical aura. The influence of keyboard sound pioneers is palpable, but never imitative. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Klaus Schulze and Edgar Froese (TANGERINE DREAM), Manuel Göttsching (ASH RA TEMPEL), Michael Hoenig, Rick Wakeman (YES), Tony Banks (GENESIS) and Keith Emerson, Richard Wright (PINK FLOYD), Vangelis, and Jean-Michel Jarre the band absorbs the essence from these roots into its own expanding cosmology.
“Balance” and “Flight”, both surpassing the twenty-minute mark, form the album’s gravitational core. Rather than relying on crescendos or metallic catharsis, the tracks evolve through subtle emotional shifts and textural layering. Synth motifs bloom slowly like distant nebulae, fretless bass lines ripple beneath the surface, and acoustic instrumentation introduces an almost human fragility to the otherwise celestial atmosphere. There is patience here — the kind of patience very few modern bands trust their audience with anymore.
What truly elevates “All Gates Open” is how clearly it reframes “Absolute Elsewhere” in a truly perfect yet unexpected way. Listening to this soundtrack you begin to understand that the later record’s immense scale did not emerge from progressive ambition alone, but from a quieter, introspective, almost meditative creative process. These recordings reveal the bloodstream beneath the machinery.
The shorter “Dawn” acts as a fragile moment of illumination, all glowing harmonic drift and melancholic beauty, before “Rain” closes the journey with a feeling that is simultaneously earthly and cosmic. The emotional resonance of these pieces is remarkable precisely because they avoid obvious climaxes. BLOOD INCANTATION seem to perfectly understand that a sonic ethereal atmosphere, when crafted with this level of mastership, can become a narrative in itself.
Together, the soundtrack and film form a complete artistic statement – one that not only documents a pivotal moment in the band’s evolution, but also preserves the initial spark that ignited their most ambitious work to date.
Mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk and featuring retro-futuristic analog collage artwork by Jodie Day, “All Gates Open” stands as a vital piece in BLOOD INCANTATION’s ever-expanding universe. It completes the creative arc that led to “Absolute Elsewhere” and closes one chapter before moving into the unknown.
Most importantly, “All Gates Open” confirms that BLOOD INCANTATION’s evolution is genuine. Many bands experiment outside their genre only to eventually circle back toward familiarity. Here, however, the exploratory impulse feels foundational to their identity. This soundtrack is not an indulgent detour; it is evidence of a band actively constructing an artistic universe with internal continuity, thematic depth and emotional coherence.
In lesser hands, a release like this could have easily become archival filler for devoted fans only. Instead, “All Gates Open” stands as a deeply intense work on its own merits — one that completes the creative arc of “Absolute Elsewhere” while simultaneously hinting at even stranger horizons ahead.
For a band already operating beyond the traditional boundaries of death metal, this release does something increasingly rare: it expands the sonic plot without diluting the creative mystery.
“All Gates Open (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)” will be released on June 5th on both LP and CD by Century Media Records.
Check the discussion about the album in our forum pages.
You can-pre order both the LP and the CD here.
