ALBUM REVIEW: Magno Interitus – Cabal
Scandinavia has always been a hotbed for metal and one of the most notable acts to have come from the region over the past decade has been CABAL. The Copenhagen-based deathcore bruisers have been creating their own visceral brand of bleak, haunting extreme metal and have been ripping up trees the world over. The band now sit at the precipice of one of the toughest tasks that faces young bands… the dreaded third album. However, CABAL are no ordinary band and with Magno Interitus they are ready to climb to the upper echelons of the extreme metal scene.
The opening track If I Hang, Let Me Swing is exactly what we have come to expect from CABAL. It’s a gnarly, violent affair that has a little of everything in the band’s arsenal such as blast beats and bone shakingly heavy breakdowns for you to snap you neck to, as well as symphonic elements to add that little bit of melodic flavour that can so often go missing in this kind of music. The band then give no quarter and follow up with the imperious Insidious – a song that dials up the speed and intensity, beating the listener over the head with a superb array of intricate drum patterns and well-crafted riffs. This is a controlled demolition of the senses and one that listeners will take great joy in experiencing.
Title track Magno Interitus provides a complete contrast to its predecessor. It leans back into the dark, haunting elements of the band’s sound with the use of one of the most infectious vocal hooks you are likely to hear and if that wasn’t enough, the song also contains one of the heaviest breakdowns that the band have penned to date. It’s a moment which will create genuine warfare when they undoubtedly place this song in their setlist going forward.
One of the highlights of the album comes with the track Blod Af Mit – a song that shows the textures with which CABAL write as a they add elements of industrial music into the mix that compliment the near-psychotic vocal delivery from Andreas Paarup. And it is in tracks such as this that the band have made a name for themselves and stand alone in an oversaturated and often repetitive corner of the metal world.
Towards the back end of the album the band show no signs of slowing up in terms of their delivery or creativity. One of the perfect examples of this comes in the form of the track Violent Ends which has to be considered one of the most aggressive, frantic songs on the whole album. The fact that the band have managed to maintain the forward momentum into the latter stages of an album is a massive plus, as many heavy bands struggle to maintain the same kind of levels right to the end of an album, which is made particularly more difficult now in the age of the short attention span.
They say that the third album is often a sticking point for many young bands. Normally they are at the crest of a wave of success or attempting to right the wrongs of a disappointing sophomore. For CABAL, they are definitely in the camp of the former, and with Magno Interitus they have struck gold for a third time and have added another weapon to their already heaving arsenal.
Rating: 8/10
Magno Interitus is set for release on October 21st via Nuclear Blast Records.
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