CULT BURIAL - Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust LP (RED/ BLACK MARBLE)

CULT BURIAL's two previous albums were widely praised for their subtly unique blend of death, black and doom metal. 2023's "Reverie Of The Malignant" was particularly impactful, at least among the irrevocably morbid, but "Collapse Of Pattern, Reverence Of Dust" heralds the maturing of the duo's dizzying hybrid, and the definitive sharpening of their songwriting scalpel. Like brutalist re-imaginings of Hieronymous Bosch paintings, littered with the poisonous detritus of industrial decay, these songs smash the harshness of extreme metal reality together with the surreal, ill-defined horrors of our shared subconscious, resulting in a truly disturbing but heroically robust squall of furious noise, with riffs wielded like rusty scalpels, and drums that connect like split knuckles to humanity's forehead. CULT BURIAL's creative driving force Simon Langford proudly draws from the best and darkest death metal, and the likes of ultra-visceral opener "Vincula" and the bile-drenched "Collapse" juggle tempos like live hand grenades, harnessing both ferocious speed and haunting, slow-motion atmospheres with intuitive ease. But there are multiple fissures and grotesque cracks in this band's sonic façade, allowing CULT BURIAL to forge paths through bleak, post-punk discord and menacing, quasi-industrial dynamics, all of which heighten the sense that comfortable reality is being chipped away, piece by piece. It isn't entirely clear how Langford or vocalist César Moreira sleep at night. Maybe they don't.

This despairing but rageful worldview is expressed lyrically, too. "Collapse" ends with the spiteful acknowledgement that "a restless ache consumes each fleeting breath," while the blistering "Beseech" is plagued by thoughts of crushed dreams and shadows that "feast upon the paling sun." Meanwhile, Langford's warped collages of riffs and obtuse anti-melodies churn and coagulate, eschewing traditionalism in favor of the defiantly left field. Nonetheless, there is plenty of real, honest-to-goodness extreme metal power driving these songs. CULT BURIAL hit an apex of efficacy on "Aether", which starts amid suffocating ambience, and glitches between bursts of frenzied aggression and a crushing, snail's pace onslaught that revels in its own sense of unfathomable space. Oddly accessible for such an unforgiving barrage of gloom, its dubbed-out dynamics, howling guitar hooks and grinding, blank-eyed bass are both mesmerizing and terrifying.

This is not an album for the faint hearted, but dystopian visions of mankind's disintegration are seldom more fascinating than this. And you can bang your head to it, which will give everyone something to do as this formidable countdown to extinction ticks away in the background.

Pressed on 140g vinyl with a red and black marbled effect, housed in a heavyweight gatefold sleeve. CULT BURIAL 2025