Cystic – Palace of Shadows (Existential Death Metal)
I think I encountered this, at least once before, where an album sounds like garbagio on headphones. Perhaps it’s time to realize my Ghostbusters headphones aren’t exactly, well, stereo quality… Anyway, these guys blast on a system, even PC speakers, so we’ll forget about that. Now that we got the dripping death metal out of the way (see review immediately below this one on the main), why don’t we pause, think a little, and get extremely reflective with the latest from Cystic, Palace of Shadows.
This one may be too deep for some because I’ve seen everything tossed out from “primordial” to “orthogonal.” Shit what word did you toss in a thesaurus to pull that one out? I guess I should call this existential death metal, huh? I can be a lot simpler and straightforward, so listen. Cystic create a kind of sound that lurks under a haze. A level of dankness covers the riffs, the snare sounds like gnashing teeth, and the vocals are raspy and foul. It convulses and twitches, yet carries a war-like edge that keeps the energy high when it needs it, pausing at times for a slow, gurgling breath. Spread the disease.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Cystic – Palace of Shadows
Chaos Records
Cover Art: Chase Slaker
4.4 / 5
