My 2024 #AlbumOfTheYear Countdown begins with the 10th Best Album of the year.
This album was recommended to me by a friend a few months ago, and I thought it was good enough to get a spot in this list.
Click the link to hear a track from the 10th Best Album of the Year, Maze Envy by #Civerous.
🔊 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #SeekAndDestroy
Civerous:
🎵 Shrouded in Crystals
from the album Maze Envy
Tzompantli – Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force Review
By Dolphin Whisperer
Art is culture. Culture needs representation. These two things often align with metal in ways we don’t realize, whether it’s the new death metal band that wants to play old-school death metal to continue to push for the representation of simpler times in death metal, or the cinephile who longs to see their niche amongst the swarms of various niche interest metal bands out there. Everyone wants to be seen and accepted for who they are, and the majesty of this metal realm we inhabit is such that artists can do just that. In the case of Tzompantli and their sophomore release Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force, this collective of California-based musicians—a pool of eleven performers from bands of all extremities, including Xibalba, Teeth, Civerous—wishes to express their reverence for the brutal nature worship of the Aztec/Mexica people and history. But never fear, this new and furious outing is far from a dissertation.
True to its namesake, Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force comes loaded with indigenous percussion, shrill flute shrieks, and piles and piles of deathly riffs. With a ferrous scent and sanguine splatter, the guitar ensemble that powers Tzompantli churns buzzsaw riff to Peaceville droning harmony with ease. And as the serenity of those moments dissipates in the wake of sacrifice, beatdown approximating segues crush space like the crack of macuahuitl to its unfortunate foe. In many ways Beating whips about with greater intensity than this act’s debut outing a couple of years back—time has allowed nuance to settle.
As such, Beating at its most impressive and brutal assaults stirs battle-lust in a manner that only this sound-nook can. No proper volume exists for sections like the skull-splitting opening fifteen seconds of dramatic flute wail and warrior chant or the recalled alert that swells to a primal throb on “Tetzavitzli.” Testament to Tzompantli’s eclectic nature, this pattern of tension and release reminds me most of both the ritualistic crescendo aim of aggressive Neurosis works (think “Through Silver and Blood” or “Under the Surface“) and the long-form low-end abuse of Evoken. However, compared to both of those acts, the crew that composes Tzompantli skews death and hardcore, so many songs find a way back to the grounded realms of down-tuned tremolo runs and tempo-tugging shuffles.
Despite the impressive number of people involved in the creation of Beating, rarely does the album feel like the result of a tribe in unison. Now, you may be thinking that that shouldn’t matter, that the number of people on paper doesn’t always have to present in total sound construction. While that’s true, Tzompantli does indeed crash in waves as one, like the fireside call and response of “Tlaloc Icuic” that lights the path for a Conan-sized drop or the heavily layered percussion that propels “Tetzaviztli.” And in these explosive displays of collective power, Tzompantli makes its mark not only as unique and affecting death/doom band but as a realization of their mission statement. It’s a wonder to behold and a shame that the link amongst these peaks renders as merely good slow, chugging death metal.
In the atmospheric realm, Tzompantli’s trademark “Tzomp-Stomp” lands like a breath of scorching hot air. Yet that same force poses an issue in this tightly interwoven tapestry of oscillating moods that Beating the Drums of Ancestral Force swings. It’s tough to temper the twitch of might and the pulse of bravado that engorges throughout these tales of might, triumph, war, and loss. The comedown ambience can simply be too unsettling. But with many passages in the Nauhatl language helping engross the audience in ancient glory, Tzompantli, at least, succeeds in sharing their reverence for their chosen and deeply personal subject matter. And with as many bodies that compromise this unique and promising band, it’s anyone’s guess as to how impacting their continued statements will be.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin | Bandcamp
Website: facebook.com/tzompantlidoom
Releases Worldwide: May 17th, 2024
#20BuckSpin #2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #BeatingTheDrumsOfAncestralForce #Civerous #Conan #DeathMetal #deathDoomMetal #DoomMetal #Evoken #May24 #Neurosis #Review #Reviews #Teeth #Tzompantli #Xibalba
By Dolphin Whisperer
As I gazed upon the purple-toned maze—which, does not appear to be a very well-designed maze in its hissing sculpture—and heard the early, shimmering notes of what Civerous brought to the table for this sophomore release, Maze Envy, my mind raced. This Los Angeles-based act’s 2021 full-length debut, Decrepit Flesh Felic, filled a snarling, buzzing diSEMBOWELMENT-shaped niche of pounding, shifting death metal that supplies ample kicks to the seat. Though Civerous never turned quite as doom-laden and tortured as that Australian novelty, 1 they pushed into the bounds of long-form tumble in their cavernous lane with a proud stomp. But a few years older, and a few shades brighter, does Maze Envy promise the exploration at which their debut hinted?
Guitars trading between stomp, surge, and swing and rhythms finding a matching march or pummel—many elements remain the same from their adventurously death metal 2021 debut Decrepit Flesh Relic. If you’re unfamiliar with the kind of churning slow-down to percussive madness that many Incantation-admiring bands summon, Civerous’ debut stands just a bit higher in the pack of young festering hopefuls. Vocalist Lord Foul (Aylwin) helps in particular with a croak that thrashes with sibilant character and tunneled prowess that throws already hefty breakdowns into feral arm-throwing frenzies (“Shrouded in Crystals,” “Levitation Tomb”). Enhancing further these barks and bellows, guitarists Alonso Santana and Daniel Salinas (Aylwin) have chosen a less crusty, more ripping tone which helps spread the hum and grime of an early Pestilence throughout this hazy outing.
Though the twisted, cavernous brutality of Civerous’ trudging death metal persists, Maze Envy takes this act’s atmospheric aspirations and fine-tunes them. With a couple band member’s shared experience in atmoblack project Aylwin serving a little bleedover into this venture, it feels natural to hear the melodic, post-black breakaways flutter about the corners of this labyrinth. Oddly, no sole member receives credit for the emulated violin and synth work,2 but these creeping and searing additions play an integral role in the horror movie introduction (“The Azure Eye”) and in recalling those moods throughout various points of Maze Envy. Concluding with the Convocation-esque closer “Geryon (The Plummet),” Civerous feels more comfortable than ever allowing a funereal-adjacent pace and melodrama to steer the path about a crushing identity.
On many of these longer tracks, the riff work quality and transition don’t distribute weight evenly. In part, some of this uneven trample results from the lack of dynamics within the heavier sections of songs. Maze Envy finds breath well in a tense intro and dreamy interlude (“Endless Symmetry”). And in its most explosive numbers (“Labyrinth Charm,” “Maze Envy”), Civerous breaks the tension with textural shifts that soar with a cutting and soaring post-gazey crescendo. And while some of those same shades exist in other songs, the compressed assault can be tiring with hardcore-leaning chug-shuffles guiding excursions providing more of a plod despite Civerous also showing proficiency with jagged-tinged death twists.
In speaking of this brand of brutish metal that approaches its attack from trudging paces that erupt into spurts of mania as its krux, beauty should be fleeting but apparent, interwoven but off-center. The search for that glimmer is the function and draw of its ugly tones and warping character. Civerous seems to believe in this end goal as well, finding a sound among contemporaries like labelmates Worm and the recently successful Spectral Voice. In turn, Maze Envy succeeds a good deal more than it stumbles. It’s final track alludes to a character from Dante’s Inferno—Geryon, the beast of fraud—who acts as a sinister guide to the eighth circle of hell. I’m not sure Civerous crackles quite as I would hope for a venture of this depth, but I am excited to see whether their next journey takes us even deeper.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 63 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin | Bandcamp
Websites: civerous.bandcamp.com | instagram.com/civerous_disease
Releases Worldwide: March 22nd, 2024
#20BuckSpin #2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #AtmosphericDeathMetal #Aylwin #Civerous #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #diSEMBOWELMENT #Incantation #Mar24 #MazeEnvy #Pestilence #Review #Reviews #SpectralVoice #Worm
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CIVEROUS Streams Cavernous, Slow-Burning New Single "Shrouded In Crystals"
Eight minutes of devastation.
#Civerous #Cavernous #SlowBurning #NewSingle #ShroudedInCrystals
Out March 22 - Civerous "Maze Envy" LP/CD from 20 Buck Spin. Chaotic Mysticism and blackened blasting from L.A.'s most creatively destructive death/doom ensemble.
https://midheaven.com/item/civerous/maze-envy
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