Cult Burial – Oblivion Review

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Extreme Metal is something extremely complex – no pun intended. It has a great deal sounds and sonancies and moods and atmospheres. One band is very different from the other even if they show to be inspired in other band. The devil is in the details some wise man said a long time ago. Extreme Metal complexity and identity is also in the details. Some of them are really hard to tell, others are easier as the stapple and identifier vocals. However, even the vocals are very complex varying a lot from tone, range, pitch, personality. I say that from the experience I’m having here reviewing so many great Extreme Metal bands all the time and in a constant basis. The intent of most bands are a kind of will to power that envolves the fan and lierate so much energy that the fan can’t stand still.

Here we have Cult Burial with the EP “Oblivion,” which breaks some crystalized rules of Extreme Metal. Unless the band is a Doom Metal band, in an album there must be at least one track that is fast, really and incredibly fast. Well, as a matter of fact, Cult Burial have a Doom origin, but they don’t profess it anymore. From where I’m standing, from my experience here and from all I know they shouldn’t be characterized as Doom. Or, on second thought, maybe they should. For the record, in “Oblivion” there is none. The three tracks in “Oblivion” aren’t that long. Opening, and tittle track, “Oblivion” is the longest with a length of nine minutes. It’s dark, gloomy, shoegazed, and extremely heavy with some chordly riffing in the intro which evolves to a fast and intricate drumming butchery wrapped in a desperate and low vocals. In fact, the track changes a lot of mood during its nine minutes. There are even faster moments as in the fourth minute passages where the guitars are allowed to go a bit faster. But it’s the drumming that catches the eye. Unfortunately, I don’t have the drummer’s name to give him the well-deserved recognition. It’s a track that will please many kinds of metallers. Sometimes, the impression it gets is that the fan is in some kind of black mass or something near that. The mood here is dark and really oppressive. I mean, the mood of all the album is oppressive. It’s like there is a pressure of a thousand mega bombs into the head of the fan. Well, for Metal Music this means a lot. Following track “Parasite” is even more oppressive as the bass kind of leads it and is louder than the guitars. Its playing is slow and precise. The guitars alternate between the low-tuned chords to higher pitches in the solos or phrasing. Vocals are extremely oppressive and desperate. Great album for whom wishes to dive into Extreme Metal.

Cult Burial “Oblivion” was self-released on September 10th.

Track Listing:

  1. Oblivion
  2. Parasite
  3. Cult Burial

Watch “Oblivion” official video here: