Ensuring the final stop of the North American leg of the Absolute ElseTour presented a powerful punctuation, extreme music mystics Blood Incantation held court at one of the most prestigious venues in Los Angeles to complete the live victory lap that has defined the Absolute Elsewhere cycle. 

The 2024 LP has propelled the band to unprecedented heights, vaulting the Colorado outfit that has shown proficiency in everything from technical death metal to otherworldly ambient in becoming one of extreme music's most rightfully in-demand artists. Among their most acclaimed work in a career that has delivered a catalog of celebrated entries, the Absolute Elsewhere era of Blood Incantation frames the most complete, powerful version of the unit - of which was on full display for the final domestic Absolute ElseTour set at the historic Wiltern. 

Transporting the capacity crowd to the brink of the universe, Blood Incantation's live execution of Absolute Elsewhere proved beyond superlative - the kind of sensory experience that defies logic with its technical prowess and one that resulted in several instances of goosebumps throughout. Each of the three movements of both "The Stargate" and "The Message" are purely consuming - an in-person immersion that speaks to not only the continuity of the album, but the ability to build narrative with music. 

From blistering fretwork and devastating percussion to spacey synth and extended stretches of ethereal atmospherics, the depth of Blood Incantation is as limitless as their aptitude - leading the kind of live spectacle that regards extreme music as high art. 

Finishing their stage time with a career-spanning third act, Blood Incantation sourced from their various iterations to showcase a final reminder of their definitive versatility. Completing cuts from Hidden History of the Human Race to the Interdimensional Extinction EP, the band then transitioned into a foreboding rendition of "Meticulous Soul Devourment" from Starspawn that set the stage for the intergalactic, near ten-minute mindfuck that is "Obliquity of the Ecliptic". 

The room was left reeling at what they just witnessed, trying to make sense of what universe they just jettisoned through as they filed out of the doors of The Wiltern. 

See the visual recap with the gallery of images below. All photos by Maurice Nunez.