Company: La Mazakuata Release: 2014 Genre: Death Reviewer: Greg Watson
Nostalgic
Norwegian Death outfit Cognition make their label debut with "Spiral of Deception", an album immersed in Sepultura and Entombed influences. Having a feel similar to "Roots" and "Left Hand Path", Cognition's album is full of aggressive guitars, melodic solos and a mixture of black and death metal vocals. The vocal delivery is very similar to Max Cavalera's with that enunciated bark that is so easily identified. Tracks like "Fragility", "Open the Gates", "Downfall" and "Aftermath" are well-crafted songs that hurtle along.. The strangest thing to me about this album is the references to Mexico in songs like "Viva Mexico" and "Xibalba", the latter being the name for the K'iche' Maya underworld. How a Noway band got inspired by Mexico is neither here nor there but it is damn interesting. However, the album is pretty solid all the way through. The songs do seem to get repetitive after a few tracks but it's still a solid offering for a debut release. If you're looking to get nostalgic with your death metal, then look no further than "Spiral of Deception".
