Cosmic Putrefaction – At the Threshold of the Great Chasm

Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Releasedate: 19-04-2019

One thing that I will repeat about death metal is that you will never, I repeat, never run out of new bands to listen to. This is sometimes a good thing, as you can suddenly find yourself immersed in the discography of a band you hadn’t checked out and love it. But sometimes the opposite happens and you just find… more. Of the same.

Unfortunately or, depending on your viewpoint fortunately, Cosmic Putrefaction is in the latter category. I mean just the title alone should give you a nice idea as to what you’ll be in for.

Now, basics first: Cosmic Putrefaction play death metal. If that doesn’t immediately give you a mental image of their sound (in which case, what are you doing here?) it’s mostly grinding, slightly groovy riffs played on downtuned, hefty, chunky guitars bordering on the Swedeath sound; pounding, organic-sounding drums with a very nicely tuned, deep kick and delightfully powerful snare. The low end is occupied quite nicely with a thick and, thankfully mostly audible bass. Tying the bow is the vocals: grunting, growling, at certain times shrieking vocals.

Far as influences go, there is a bit of black metal and teensy bit of grind in At the Threshold of the Great Chasm. This becomes apparent when the riffs discard the chunky death grooves and head in these directions. But these moments are usually few and far between and are never at the center of the tracks.

Which is where the apparent weakness of the album starts to shine through. Cosmic Putrefaction is here to deliver you death metal. The problem isn’t that, the problem is that that is it. There is nothing new or particularly exciting to be found here, just slab after slab of death that doesn’t really grip you or make you want to listen more. Especially given that there are far more skilled bands out there writing massively engaging material, that’s not the best place to be. At the Threshold… is a nice album for what it is, but it just doesn’t leave a lasting impression.

Bottom line: if you like death metal, give this a go. You may get a kick out of it still. Otherwise, there are far better albums out there, waiting for you to discover them.

Line-Up:
G – all instruments, additional vocals
Brendan Sloan – lead vocals
XN – lead vocals on The Herald Prophecy

1. The Perpetual Orbit
2. The Acrimonious Darkness
3. The Unheard Shrieks
4. The Herald Prophecy
5. The Ancient Demagouge
6. The Outermost Threat – Part I
7. The Outermost Threat – Part II
8. Ruinous Downfall
9. The Dismal Black Nothingness

Links:

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