25 Best Metal Albums Of The Decade
6. Blood Incantation - Starspawn (2016)
Destined to go down as a future death metal classic, Blood Incantation's Starspawn immediately earmarked the Denver band as the genre's most exciting prospects upon its 2016 release.
After three demos of varying quality, the mostly great Interdimensional Extinction EP, plus an underrated split with Spectral Voice, Blood Incantation shot out of the underground with five tracks of sprawling, stratospheric death prog that balance high concepts, invention, and power former a body of work sure to be considered a genre benchmark in coming years.
Starspawn succeeds by melding classic riffage reminiscent of bands like Morbid Angel with complex arrangements and cosmic atmospherics. This is next-level creativity, and the kind of record that yields new hooks with each new listen. There's a lot to unpack with it, and while Starspawn does rip when Blood Incantation decide to floor it, a change in time signature, pace, or mood and tone is never more than a few seconds away. That's its prime appeal, though there's something for everyone here. It's not an album that sacrifices coherence for complexity or channels intricacy for intricacy's sake.