Album Review: Anticosm – The Call of the Void (Hell Kill Destroy Records)

The roots of Anticosm dig deep into the underground metal scene of New Jersey. It all began with Kirill Kovalevsky (vocals), Mark Siedlecki (guitar) and Beheader (drums) releasing their first set of songs titled Alcoholic Darkness in 2007. Since then, the band pushed out three more releases, Against the Cosmos (2009), The Wreckoning EP (2011), and Anticosm (2015) while signed to Born of Chaos Records, and has toured the U.S. twice. Fusing Black Metal with the traditional Heavy Metal drive was the aim, Black Thrash n Roll was the result.

Anticosm is no longer with Born of Chaos Records and has since went through several line-up changes. The three founding members remain, with the additions of Tom Wilson on bass and Keith Romanski on guitar. New life springs new ideas, cultivated by the group, forged and polished into The Call of the Void, a new full-length album Anticosm will release on August 16th 2019 via their own label, Hell Kill Destroy Records.

A very promising start, The Call of the Void is a scorching combination of thrash and black metal. Viral is fast and heavy getting things off on the right foot. Someone Must Suffer then takes those rolling riffs and sharpened hooks turning the blackness up another notch. While energetic and bouncy, the underlying threat by the darker side of Anticosm is hard to ignore.

We then get a short, in your face blast of fire in the form of the thrashing Scorched Earth before the title track does something a bit different.

Beginning with soft and strumming guitar melody, it pauses as if unsure of where to go next before erupting into the familiar thumping heaviness we’ve come to expect. However, the riffs are at their strongest here, really standing tall over the intense horror of the vocals and drums.

Keeping it tight to the formula, Fall Asleep builds in volume in the most quality of ways. The rhythm really pulling hard on the neck muscles, exciting and energetic. One of the strongest tracks on the album.

After a handful of longer and deeper tracks, it’s back to to the faster and catchier stuff with Somewhere Between Life and Death. A much more rock and roll style track. Something that is matched by Behold the Venom Crystals, the drum beat in this one is bloody brilliant though.

A strong section, it’s interrupted by the black metal force that is The Only Truth, a return to a more traditional metal/black metal fusion. No complaints here though. Especially when it’s a hyperactive thrash explosion with Never Enough that wraps the album up.

A clever combination that Anticosm have clearly mastered, The Call of the Void is something that will appeal to fans of thrash, classic metal and black.

Anticosm – The Call of the Void Full Track Listing:

1. Viral
2. Someone Must Suffer
3. Scorched Earth
4. Call of the Void
5. Fall Asleep
6. Somewhere Between Life and Death
7. Behold The Venom Crystals
8. The Only Truth
9. Never Enough

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