Cambion – Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium (Conundrum Inducing Technical Death Metal)
It’s been a bad week or so for promos, let me start there. Everything I’ve received has been a disappointment; either failing miserably with the art, or reaching, at best, average achievements in the music. That brings us to Texas’ Cambion. To be honest, I found this to be a goddamn conundrum at first. The cover, by “No Peace at the Gate” (Shaari Moth) is at first confusing, then overwhelming and I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to be looking at. The band’s logo is so damn long on the top and lower edges it didn’t make for good positioning on the header, and I have no clue why they apparently chose part of fishkeeping lore for the title, Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium. These guys were either going to come swinging with no clear target and you let them get winded, or you’d think they didn’t know what they were doing until you found yourself waking up from a concussion.
Though Metallum lists this trio as “blackened death metal,” in reality they play heavier on the technical side without much blackness. Though boasting some impressive members like Chason Westmoreland, it took me some time to truly dig Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium, but the digging came. Much like the cover, Cambion create a seemingly confusing sound that at first sounds like a shit pile until the intricacy begins to unfold with some of the most technical and detailed playing I’ve heard in a long time. Practically every song is a “fuck you check this out,” but at an organic pace and not for the sake of experimenting. Extremely accurate riffs, fast drum fills, wildly diverse solos, strange cuts that somehow work, there’s quite a bit to be found here. I would say the only element I wish had more diversity is the vocals, which tend to be delivered at the same harsh and effective, yet consistent level. But, we’ll take it this week, or last week because everything sucked then too.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Cambion – Conflagrate the Celestial Refugium
Lavadome Productions
Cover Art: No Peace at the Gate (Shaari Moth)
4.2 / 5
