Album Review: Cognizance – Malignant Dominion (Prosthetic Records)

Seven years after forming, Leeds-based death metallers Cognizane are limbering up for the release of their debut album. Far from taking it easy, they’ve spent the time notching up no less than four EPs and three singles, featuring guest appearances from a broad selection of 18 musicians, well established within the genre. Things have most definitely not been quiet in the Cognizane camp.

Freshly signed to Prosthetic Records, Cognizane have now put the finishing touches to their first full length release, Malignant Dominion, which will be released on September 6th 2019.

The moment a great song kicks in, the drums hammer away and the riffs cut through the mind like a hot knife through butter, is special. You feel the hairs on the back of your neck go up and your head almost involuntarily starts to move. It’s what makes metal so damn great.

That exact feeling is what is felt as Cognizane’s technical death metal mastery gets under way with the blazing fire of Nocturnal Emission. Effectively just an intro of searing riffing, effortless drumming and a meaty bass edge that slays and it absolutely creates excitement for what follows. Seven more tracks of blistering death metal. Music played at an infamously recognisable pace for fans of tech death but with so much drum/guitar flair that it’s literally impossible to not feel joy listening to it.

The complexities of the racing riffs, the sharp cuts and abrasive turns, are gob-smacking to hear. That they’re just one part of an album that also showcases drumming that causes the heart to race faster and vocals that howl and roar with demonic power is truly spectacular.

Keeping it quite short at 30 minutes overall, there is no getting sick of this. Each track sounds like it belongs but also sounds different in its own way. The end result is one of the most spectacular technical death metal releases this year.

Cognizane – Malignant Dominion Full Track Listing:

1. Nocturnal Emission
2. A Lesson Through Sickness
3. The Organic Citadel
4. Malignant Dominion
5. Strychnine Shift
6. Ether of the Void
7. Unforeseen Consequences
8. An Existential Battle

Links

Bandcamp | Pre-order | Big Cartel | Facebook