ALBUM REVIEW: Gravitas – Dead Kosmonaut
Amongst other Scandanavian countries, Sweden’s affiliation with metal is longstanding, and this particularly chilly corner of Northern Europe has become a factory for blistering riffs, from ever more progressive heavy metal to black metal and beyond. But DEAD KOSMONAUT have a much more traditional motive. On the brink of releasing their second full length Gravitas, they want to take metal back to its uninhibited roots, and unshackle our perception of how a modern metal band should should.
The first impression of Gravitas does feel a little like stepping back into a time capsule. Like the findings of an archaeological dig, it is a record bursting with creative freedom and traditional execution. As a band DEAD KOSMONAUT wanted to file against the grain and focus on the unexpected, something they feel is lost in a lot of the paint-by-numbers metal we hear today. Instead of following these contemporary trends, they opted to write what feels very much like a record written for themselves. And while running the risk of seeming like an IRON MAIDEN tribute act, the result feels oddly fresh and organic at times.
Black Tongue Tar opens the album and after a long, beating intro that breathes life into the album, we encounter towering metallic passages, dazzling solos and larger than life heavy metal vocals. This leads into Iscariot’s Dream with a flicker of bass, where we are grabbed by relentless vocal hooks and the kind of riffs that you find lodged in your head for days. Anyone searching for the next evolution of heavy metal would be largely disappointed, but as an ode to a foregone era, Gravitas begins to impress.
As we’re linked neatly into Vanitatis Profeta, we hear more of the same. The music is well executed, but doesn’t go too far towards sucker punching us with a myriad of style. Which of course was a large part of Dead KOSMONAUT‘s mission statement. The same can be said of The Spirit Divide, and in fact it isn’t until we reach Hell / Heaven that things begin to change at all. The most obvious difference is that the track length surpasses eleven minutes, but it also feels altogether more patient and better constructed.
Rather than feeling the need to impress through an array of instrumental talent, the focus here shifts to composition, and having this space to think enables us to take more in. From sweeping, piano flanked prog rock sections to the thought provoking lyrical performance, this track feels more cinematic and tells its story through subtlety and finesse. Without going as far as saying it’s unique, it is very well executed and is an enjoyable listen.
The band achieve a similar result with Dead Kosmonaut Part I and Part II, the latter again sitting at over eleven minutes. Patience is quite literally their greatest virtue, and these longer tracks have finally allowed them to break the mould that perhaps even they themselves were guilty of sitting in throughout earlier tracks. In all, Gravitas is a dense and enjoyable listen, succeeding as a firm salute to classic metal.
Rating: 7/10
Gravitas is out now via High Roller Records.
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