CVLT Nation Captures COVENANT FEST Day One

​The fest kicked off ​Thursday, June 8th in downtown Vancouver at a smaller venue called The Red Room, with a capacity of about 300-400 max. While I missed the early sets of Firecult and the dark ambient of Randal Collier Ford, I was able to catch the second half of Ceremonial Bloodbath’s set – a mangled and tangled void of downtuned and slow-moving blackened death-doom that sounded as if Disembowelment, Autopsy, and Beherit were having a perverted orgy. What became apparent from their set was also the stellar audio of the club and the overall seriousness, streamlined professionalism and organization of the fest – something that would become ever so apparent in the following nights. While Edmonton’s Phylactery brought things back to punishing speed with their crazed and war-torn black death/thrash, the zenith of the night was – of course – reached by headliners Blood Incantation, a band I’ve now seen play live multiple times and who never cease to amaze in the live setting. The Denver boys delivered their signature strain of psychedelic space-themed progressive death metal with surgical precision and atomic heaviness, opening a portal to another dimension within the venue and crushing the crowd under the weight of a collapsing stargate. To be fair, few bands deserve the “hype” they receive online, but Blood Incantation are an exception to this rule.