One of the grisliest slabs of Blackened Deathcore I came across last year was the gritty album ‘Magno Interitus’ by Cabal. These Danes create Blackened Deathcore of the nastiet sort.
Rather then symphonic flourishes and orchestral arrangements, aka Lorna Shore, The Breathing Process or Worm Shepherd, Cabal concentrate their Blackened ideology upon frost bitten riffs and melodies that come straight from the textbook frequented by vintage Marduk, Immortal, Dissection and Triumphator.
The backbone of their sound may be built upon the bludgeon frequented by early Job For A Cowboy, vintage Suicide Silence and Oceano yet as stated previously the punishing heft and swagger these mavens of mirthless crush invoke is threaded through with an uncompromising Black Metal aesthetic that elevates their assault to deliciously vile levels of devastation.
Herein the recording is purposefully raw and unhinged giving everything a gritty sheen as bone shattering rhythms and unhinged vocals collide with violent splendour. Interlaced with shocks of electro infused distortion songs such as “Insidious” featuring BAEST become exercizes in nightmarish cyber-sonic beauty.
For Cabal its all about atmosphere, the type created without orchestral arrangements or symphonic layering. Cabal create a confluence of Djent, Beatdown and Blackened Deathcore that is steeped in a dark sort of savagery that crushes one beneath a wave of steamroller rhythms, bone breaking drumming battery and anguished vocals.
Witness the untethered ferocity of turbulent opening track “If I Hang, Let Me Swing” and throw your body about in abandon to its corrosive combination of sulphuric textures and ravenous rhythmic savagery.
Whether it’s the brooding bluster of title track “Magno Interitus” which features Joe Bad, the fatalistic fury of “Existence Ensnared”, the dark malevolence of “Blod Af Mit” or the catchy and corrosive call to arms that is “Like Vultures”, ‘Magno Interitus’ proves to be a merciless album that is murderous in intent.
The incandescent darkness that emanates from this smoldering slab of splendor is as captivating as it is crushing. Listen and burn!
-Asher Locketz-