It’s difficult to ignore the parallels between newcomers Cult Burial and Anaal Nathrakh. Both bands travel under British passports, both bands have similar lineup configurations with one dude (Simon Langford) handling all the music and dude number two (César Moreira) being responsible for vocals and lyrics. There are sonic similarities as well, to the point where when I called up “Dethroner,” the video for the first single from their self-titled debut album, YouTube’s algorithm put a stream of the new Anaal Nathrakh album in the on-deck circle. But please don’t assume Cult Burial are mere copyists.
After a well-received two-track demo released earlier this year, the duo hopped on the opportunity afforded by the positive response and COVID-assisted windows of free time to complete work on Cult Burial, a stream of which we’re presenting in advance of its official release tomorrow. For a band that previously had a grand total of two songs in its repertoire and limited amounts of previous experience – Metal Archives lists the only previous band experience either member has had was César fronting a tech-death band called Enblood – what’s on display here is quite impressive. The black/death/sludge/doom/industrial commingling is potent, incisive and effectively presented via the quality of their self-production. Of course, with any band on what is essentially their first release, there’s room for growth and that’s the scary thing about Cult Burial: if this is what they’re capable of this early in the game, give them a couple more years of experience writing songs and using whatever newfangled recording software kids today have mastered by the age of 13 and the sky’s the limit!
Multi-instrumentalist Simon Langford had this to say about the band’s debut work:
“We are excited to release the album to the world. The record is a journal of hopelessness and bleakness written during a locked-down, pandemic suffering period of time. It’s primarily a death metal release, but there are elements of doom, black and progressive metal. Musically, it is derived from a range of influences – the aim was to create a nasty, aggressive, energetic piece of music that would leave the listener suffering under the weight of the message.”
And about that message, vocalist César Moreira offered:
“The album’s lyrics are about spiritual themes, addressing topics of loneliness and the subsequent insanity it can lead to. The record is more a documentation of a mental breakdown due to the adversities we have to face in life and how the world is a cold dark place that doesn’t care about you, but you are obliged to participate in what it has to offer. I’m grateful to be part of this project. It’s brutal, powerful, relentless and without hope.”
Cult Burial is released tomorrow, November 6th. Check it out at any of the links below:
