‘Majestic’: how many death metal acts these days can reclaim that particular crown? Seemingly out of nowhere – Joensuu, Finland to be precise – Cult Of Endtime have spread their dark wings and taken over.
The Charnel Lights is a massive-sounding death metal album that likes to wander slowly among Tokyo’s ruins à la Godzilla rather than a doom/death offering that just happens to have brutal moments.
But what’s most impressive about their debut album is how controlled it sounds. Everything about it, from the growling yet clearly enunciated vocals to the imposing snare sound, sounds absolutely crushing, with no useless solo or progressive parts to distract the listeners from total annihilation. And it doesn’t ‘just’ sound big, mind you – it sounds enormous.
If you’ve ever fantasised about what an album of songs only based on Morbid Angel’s Hatework track could have ever sounded like, this is the one. You could denounce them as a one-trick pony but when said trick can destroy everything in sight, it’s hard to complain isn’t it?/o:p
