Seducer

Fantastical death doomers Cultic return with a single of their by now trademark combination of ultra primitive dirt metal set against obscurantist tracts of mystical lore and eccentric ambient/experimental accents. ‘Seducer’ alters the conceptual orientation of this artist from holistic fantasy based narratives to character driven pieces. Musically, the metallic elements remain as primal as ever, combining Autopsy at their most sluggishly lackadaisical with the absorbing simplicity of Celtic Frost.

The dungeon synth elements that were once added for mere flavour have evolved into genuine events sitting alongside the lumbering, almost funereal drone of marching death/doom. They colour the raw animalism of ringing distortion with intriguing accents of half formed melodic content. The choice of synth patches is novel in that it tends to avoid the slick orchestration of strings and choirs in favour of more explicitly synthetic tones, brass, and odd textures of noise that serve to bring a welcome degree of alienating weirdness to proceedings. Thundering bass and the basic inevitability of the percussive battery lend self-assurance and bombast to the more experimental elements on display here. Gravelly distorted vocals complete the picture, adding a seasoning of monstrous energy to heighten the dramatic stakes.

This brief two track release re-asserts the best elements of Cultic’s previous LP ‘Of Fire and Sorcery’ whilst developing their unique approach to a subgenre of extreme metal often written off as overly limiting. Much like the elegantly simple world building projects of Celtic Frost, the music is fully immersive, creating its own architecture both sonically and narratively, but from a place of sparse topography as opposed to technical density. ‘Seducer’ is a welcome primer for the next stage of this curiously evolving pocket of fantastical and primal death/doom.

Originally published at Hate Meditations