ALBUM REVIEW: Cosmic Terror – The Spirit

Saarbrücken’s THE SPIRIT have been on the undergound’s watch list for some time now, but they gathered a few moments in the spotlight in 2018 when Nuclear Blast Records reissued their debut album, Sounds From the Vortex (read our review here). With their debut album, THE SPIRIT utilised a distinctly Swedish black metal sound, harnessing far more melody than typically scene in the genre and blending it with a touch of death metal brutality. But can the Germans recapture the magic of Sounds From the Vortex with Cosmic Terror and keep their momentum moving?

Cosmic Terror starts off in incredible form with Serpent as Time Reveals. Ice-cold, bursting with melody and eviscerating in its delivery, the opening track and lead single is a clear mission statement for THE SPIRIT‘s growth; for all the aggression and misery in their sound, they are here to dominate with some of the catchiest black metal you’re likely to hear all year. Soulful lead work brings the incredible opening gambit to a close, and the trio waste no time in hammering home with the crushing one-two of Strive for Salvation and Repugnant Human Scum. Keeping true to their formula, both tracks are viscous and hook heavy in equal measure, delivering melodic black metal to such a high quality that THE SPIRIT easily hold their own here against the classic works of DISSECTION, NAGLFAR and SACRAMENTUM.

The crowning glory of Cosmic Terror comes around from the mid-late portion of the record, however, with the epic progression through The Path of Solitude, Pillars of Doom and The Wide Emptiness. The Path of Solitude stands as the record’s stand-out moment, shedding much of the death metal flourishes in favour of a far more melodic, far more blackened assault. Progressing from melodious grooves to furious bombardments across its just-shy-of-eight-minute run time, this is THE SPIRIT at their best. Keeping the momentum going, Pillars of Doom – previously released last year as a 7″ – shows a remarkable blend of intensity and hook-heavy delivery, before The Wide Empitness send the listener plummeting into a void of blackened misery, rounding off the triple-threat that makes up Cosmic Terror‘s highlight moment nicely. The instrumental title track then crashes in, leading the listener to the record’s conclusion.

While Sounds From the Vortex fell neatly into DISSECTION worship, Cosmic Terror sees THE SPIRIT crafting their own identity. Highly melodic and melancholic, with a frostbitten, ethereal tone throughout, the trio still wear their influences on their sleeves. But across Cosmic Terror, the songwriting is stronger than what the band showed with their debut with plenty of personality shining through. THE SPIRIT may still be deeply routed in the underground, but that just serves as further evidence that the underground is where all the best black metal reigns supreme.

Rating: 9/10

Cosmic Terror is out now via AOP Records. 

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