Phobos Monolith

Given the sense of solipsism inherent in most styles of black metal, it's no surprise that so many artists have taken the solo route in realizing their art. However, whether it's the sheer saturation or the fact that most of these projects tend to be mediocre at best, there has been a backlash against the one-man act (I know of at least one 'full band', secretly a solo artist who wants listeners to believe there's more than one member for this very reason). While it's rare that these solo projects ever extend past the bedroom/basement/shed, there are an elect handful that offer some of the most beautiful and frightening realizations of the psyche in black metal. The Ruins of Beverast would stand as the most impressive example in my mind, but Coldworld, Taake and Panopticon have all released some incredible albums in their time. New to the list would be Mare Cognitum, hailing from the sunny city of Santa Ana, California. Beginning my experience with this project of one J. Buczarski's with An Extraconscious Lucidity before working my way to the debut, I've been consistently impressed with the work Mare Cognitum has continued to unleash upon the world.

Phobos Monolith is Buczarski's third album to date under the Mare Cognitum moniker, and early reports that it's his best aren't without merit. This is challenging, dense and simultaneously hypnotic music. It's not often I come across music I believe to hold complexity and repetition with equal weight; such is certainly the case here with Mare Cognitum. While Buczarski often capitalizes on the trance-like state that atmospheric black metal can create over the course of effectively repeating chord progressions, there are often multiple guitar lines in the well-balanced mix, each contributing to this growing astral symphony. It's a sign of a gifted composer when multiple melodies can be handled simultaneously in unison; Phobos Monolith never seems to run short of this inspiration.

With four lengthy, ambient-oriented chunks of space worship here, Phobos Monolith at first conjured to mind what I imagine Tangerine Dream's Zeit would have sounded as an atmospheric black metal album. For Mare Cognitum the awe of space and fear of it are one and the same; the twisting melodies and harmonies are beautiful but predominantly cerebral. Whatever profound musings that may occur listening to Phobos Monolith are further driven by the often frantic rhythm of the music; the speed and energy give the impression of running away from some astral terror, but the sad melodies and repetition serve as a fatalistic counterweight to this sense of frantic self-preservation; even though our first impulse is to run and flee, it's ultimately a futile exercise. Whatever spectral form that haunts us in Phobos Monolith is certain and absolute.

With longer songs and so many ideas, it's surprising (and a little disappointing) that I don't have very much to say about the individual tracks themselves. Contrary to An Extraconscious Lucidity (which had several distinctive tracks) the songs here tend to blend into an amorphous mass. That's not necessarily a bad thing however; I get the impression that, far moreso here than on Mare Cognitum's work in the past- Phobos Monolith is intended to be digested as a whole; the parts are worthy on their own, but require the full context to get anywhere near the full effect. With that having been said, "Weaving the Thread of Transcendence" stands as a particularly excellent track, with a central tremolo-heavy melody that seeks to dig into my lungs, and succeeds. More specifically, there's a section a couple of minutes into "Ephemeral Eternity" that nearly made me jump out of my seat with the sheer aggression and intensity- comparisons to Anaal Nathrakh would not be unfounded. Barring that and some mandatory space ambience, Phobos Monolith is frighteningly consistent with its stoic focus on harmony-centered composition. Although the style rarely deviates, my attention is enraptured throughout the entire thing. There are too many ideas here to allow an idle mind.

Whereas most black metal soloists consider themselves lucky if they're capable guitarists, Buczarski's skill extends far past that. As much as I'm impressed by the brilliant harmonies and interplay, the best performance here might be the way in which he's arranged the drums. I've always preferred a human touch to drums, but Phobos Monolith ultimately goes to show that programmed drums can be just as intense and exciting, provided they're given enough care and design. While Mare Cognitum's greatest strength lies in Jacob's ability to make multiple guitar lines work simultaneously together, hearing programmed drums with this much detail and busyness is a rare pleasure.

I was surprised to read a couple of reviews lauding Jacob Buczarski's vocals as one of the project's greatest assets. Personally, I find the opposite to be true; his wispy rasp is not weak in of itself, but it feels superfluous and underwhelming; it's a problem I had with An Extraconscious Lucidity, and the same rings true for Phobos Monolith. There seems to be an effort to broaden the limited vocal palette to incorporate death-ier growls with "Ephemeral Eternities", and while they're generally less distracting than the trademark rasp he's used over the past couple of albums, it still feels like Mare Cognitum struggles with properly integrating vocals into the music. I understand that it's very rare that vocals ever play an integral role in the composition of atmospheric black metal, but when done right, they should accent emotions the listener should already be feeling. I'm feeling plenty of things while listening to Phobos Monolith, but the vocals haven't helped on that end at all.

Artwork here was done by Luciana Nedelea. Until now, Mare Cognitum's I, Voidhanger labelmate Spectral Lore's (another fantastic one man band!) cover was my favourite art of 2014, and now it has some steady competition, in Phobos Monolith. I think I have a favourite album cover artist. The surreal mountains in front of an astral starscape is a perfect visual representation of what Mare Cognitum's sound is all about; the subjective and personal experience of the unknown and otherworldly.

In a broad sense, Mare Cognitum seeks to undo many of the bad preconceptions I and many others have towards one-man black metal. Where one might come to expect imbalance and crudity, Buczarski offers meticulous sound design and all-around instrumental capability. Ultimately, I am unsure whether I truly prefer this over An Extraconscious Lucidity. The widening of scope and sound undeniably mark it as the most ambitious and complex MC album by a large margin, but I long for the brilliant hooks and dynamic that his second album was awash in. One thing's for sure however; Mare Cognitum has breached another frontier in composition and arrangement with this album. The possible directions and approaches Buczarski might take Mare Cognitum down are virtually limitless. Quite like space itself.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR HEATHEN HARVEST PERIODICAL