Nirvana

Cult of Fire released not one, but two albums in 2020 on the same day, probably to be forgiven for their lack of full-lengths released in the meantime (even if the three EPs Čtvrtá symfonie ohně, Life, Sex and Death and the untitled one can be considered as a full-length when coiled together). While Moksha sounded like an afterthought of lazy riffing and apathetic production, Nirvana is more designed as instrumental meditative stuff, featuring five tracks sharing the same title… or at least, that was the intent.

In all truth, the album doesn't sound any different than Moksha: the music is droning and sleepy as their past material, production is indistinguishable from the cited album, and the whole platter sounds nearly identical as past releases. The album also has five tracks and has a similar short, snappy duration of 33 minutes. The only differences are the reduced guitar distortion and more simplistic rock drumming in some spots. This stylistic choice reveals even more the influence from 80’s post-punk (Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Bauhaus) and post-rock than before (especially the intro of the opener).In musical terms, however, this doesn’t really change anything: vocals consist of even more unsuited throaty shrieking and om-like mantras, guitars are power-chord-only, keyboards feature sampled flutes, choirs and sounds more suited to new age/ambient that don’t mesh at all with the blackgaze backgrounds. There's also a requisite more aggressive track with riffing more derivative of Mayhem and Watain, preciesely the fourth one. When I ignore all of the written considerations and eventual prejudices, I admit that the fifth track is the best one from both albums, due to its basic, song-like D-major riffs, leads and arpeggios, thought that’s a small consolation.

To put it short, this is the same stuff as Moksha, same notes and barely a few experimenting in arrangements and structures: that’s the motivation for putting the same rating on Nirvana. Apparently, the band wrote and recorded both albums contemporarily, which may have affected the overall results and the projects’ focus. After listening both albums, I’m starting to wonder why Vladimír Pavelka isn’t reviving his project Death Karma, definitely more interesting than the stuff he’s making with Cult of Fire.