Sidereal Malignancy

Have you ever wondered what lies beyond? Have you ever felt scared of the act of thinking about the afterlife or the countless other planes that may or may not lie after the death of our physical bodies and the implications that they carry with their mere existence? Do you like "Starspawn" by Blood Incantation? Have you ever loved an EP so much you wished it was longer? Well then, this is your lucky day! Cosmophage has you covered!

"Sideral Malignancy" is the debut EP by this Brazilian band, and oh boy, does it deliver. This is something a lot of well-established bands only dream of making one day, but something only a few manage to actually do, and here we have a newly formed band just coming out of nowhere and releasing this as if it were nothing. Here lies the beauty of the underground: unannounced badassery coming out every day to assault the ears of everyone curious or brave enough to dig into it, and this release is exactly it. A refreshment to all the crossover thrash and run-of-the-mill death metal that have been plaguing this country for some time now. This release presents relentless cosmic death metal with groovy Trey Azagthoth-inspired guitars, deep growling vocals, and lyrics that speak of multidimensional and extraterrestrial horrors. I actually found zero reasons to hate on this thing. It is that good.

And I have to say that of all the things I like about this effort, the one that struck me the most is how well written everything is, music and words alike, and how they both connect so well to form this evil and alien soundscape. Also, no track overstays its welcome at all; they're all structured perfectly in a way that makes them both dynamic and destructive, giving each instrument a moment to shine, which is quite a feat considering this thing clocks in at 21 minutes in total. "Devourment Of The Ur-Plagued" is a great example of this: it has everything one could want in a cosmic death metal song with all its expected cliches and musical prowess, and it is only 3:21 minutes in length.

Another thing that I absolutely love about this is all the aesthetic choices the band made, be it in the album cover or in the photoshoots. They both reflect their sound and musical style perfectly (something I've seen smaller bands struggle with a lot) and enhance the listening experience for me. Listening to these manic and chaotic songs while trying to decipher the album art was a fun thing to do. This plant-insect-spirit Lovecraftian monstrosity will not leave my mind soon.

"Sidereal Malignancy" was one hell of a ride, a great find, and an excellent listen. I wholeheartedly wish that they release at least another EP soon. If not, they're wasting amazing potential.