ALBUM REVIEW: Betrayal – Cordyceps

Brutal death metal has the pleasure of being one of, if not the premier genres in the world for sheer heft of sound. The compressed guitars tuned to the deepest depths of the lowest tunings imaginable alongside pummelling drums that are relentless as they are impressive come together to create sounds that are as captivating as they are brutal, and with some of the finest vocal talents in the world being located in these genres, there truly is a lot to like about the far fringes of extremity. CORDYCEPS are one of the new kids on block, having been working on their debut record since joining Unique Leader Records back in 2018. The band themselves have been working and grinding since 2014, and the 6 years of craft shines through in Betrayal, their debut full length.

CORDYCEPS already have the benefit of praise from big names in the death metal world like Trevor Strnad of BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, and it is easy to see why. The band have a natural feel to their heaviness, as the lack of compression and saturation in the mix means that the heaviness and brutality come from the sheer intensity that the band play with. There is an honesty about the heft to their sound, as it relies heavily on tight performances, and the riffs that they play are about as caveman heavy as they come, and tracks like Maelstrom of Hypocrisy and Parallel Dissonance throw in wretched sequels to brighten up the sometimes muddy riffing.

Whilst there is certainly enough variety throughout the record to entertain musically, the vocals are what bring most of the album together. The tightness of the band is impressive, but the lack of paralysing saturation means that the mix sounds noticeably thin when compared to their contemporaries. The vocals throughout Betrayal provide the necessary depth to stop the songs from falling away into each other. As tracks like Cesspool of the Viscous noodle away more so than others on the track listing, the guttural vocals and thick bass help maintain the structure and keep the album from losing any of its heft.

Whilst it is easy to see why CORDYCEPS have been so backed within the top echelons of the death metal scene, there lacks a certain secret sauce to Betrayal. Where bands such as DISENTOMB and DEVOURMENT stun and genuinely shock with their intensely breathtaking heaviness, CORDYCEPS take a different approach, relying on their song writing and playing proficiency as well as their tightness as a unit to pull them through to the lands of extremity. It works, to some degree, on Betrayal, but there is a level of hollowness to their sound that is difficult to shake. From the levels of panic inducing extremity the genre has been pumping out recently, the thing that makes CORDYCEPS so special and worth checking is their innate ability to string water tight and elephant heavy caveman riffs with some of the nastiest vocals in the game at the moment. However, it doesn’t quite stand up to the current genre giants, but there is enough potential here to warrant getting on the band wagon. When the secret sauce is added, CORDYCEPS could well be going places.

Rating: 6/10

Betrayal is out now via Unique Leader Records.

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