Live report BLOOD INCANTATION & MINAMI DEUTSCH, Gruenspan, Hamburg – April 25th, 2025

Blood Incantation is a band that has been one of the rising stars in metal over the past few years. Hailing from Denver, Colorado, the band recently released a stellar longplayer called “Absolute Elsewhere”. To present and promote the album, the four-piece is currently on tour and is scheduled to play a show at Gruenspan in Hamburg, Germany.

With them on tour is a band with an interesting name – Minami Deutsch. I hadn’t heard of the guys before today’s show and was told that we can expect some cosmic rock, which would be the link to the main act. Minami Deutsch are four guys from Japan and it was in 2014 when Kyotaro Miula founded the band. In the meantime the guys have moved to Berlin, which might be a benefit when it comes to their passion for Krautrock.

Tonight Minami Deutsch start their show at 8:00 pm and it is remarkable that quite some fans have come to see the quartet. The room is well crowded and already after the first song there is more than just friendly applause that fills the Gruenspan. Minami Deutsch’s sound is a fusion of psychedelic rock with a cosmic feel and the mentioned krautrock inspiration that shimmers through during these 40 minutes. The guys are masters of repetition, which leads to an almost hypnotic musical experience for everyone. Style-wise different from Blood Incantation it is the musical finesse and the creative flow that both bands have in common and what the four Japanese musicians present is powerful and impressive. You get the feeling of joining the band during a jam session in their rehearsal room, with endless solo parts and not too much talking. It’s the music that does the job and much more than a “Dankeschön” at the end is not what you can expect. Nevertheless, the fans came to listen to music and they got a full dose of mesmerizing rock music, paving the way for the main act. A big round of applause resounds in the room as the band leaves the stage and I guess they have some new fans in Hamburg after this set.

(click on pics to enlarge)

It doesn’t take long for the crew to get the stage ready for Blood Incantation, but it still takes 35 minutes for the band to take the stage. Some music from bands like Goblin shortened the waiting time, but everyone wants to see and hear the riff masters from Denver.

Blood Incantation build their show around two songs. It is the A-side and the B-side of the current album “Absolute Elsewhere”, which are played in chronological order. It is the massive blasts during the three chapters of “The Stargate” that reveal all the heaviness and aggressiveness of the death metal outbursts. The creative metal professors from Denver are unleashing a metal inferno. Already when entering the venue you were reminded that it will be loud … and Blood Incantation play loud. No doubt, heavy metal has to be experienced loudly and at the same time the filigree and the details of Blood Incantation’s music are a little bit overruled by the roaring sound.

As on the album, “The Message” and its three parts follow “The Stargate”. “The Message” is, at least for me, the more interesting part with the Pink Floyd-like moments, which also blossom tonight. It is amazing how well the clean voice fits into Blood Incantation’s sound and the contrast to the hellish barks in the death metal sections creates an exciting tension.

With “Inner Paths (to Outer Space)” the band also plays a song from the “Hidden History of the Human Race” before keyboards and later drums bridge the time between the main set and the encore.

“Obliquity of the Ecliptic” is the expected finale to a show that was breathtaking in its energy. It was a wall of riffs that the band threw into the room and the fans absorbed every note. At the same time, as mentioned before, the finesse of Blood Incantation’s music lost a bit tonight, as the massive and loud sound pushed the smartly integrated details to the back. In addition a playing time of 60 minutes isn’t very long but we also have to state that the ticket price (about EUR 30,00) was rather fair.

However, Blood Incantation played a furious show at Gruenspan, and the support band was equally impressive. Minami Deutsch is definitely a band that fans of progressive and layered psychedelic rock should have on their radar. All in all, everyone witnessed two thrilling rock/metal shows, before the colorful night lights of Reeperbahn brought everyone back from outer space to reality, while still having some cosmic metal in mind.