MAY OFFER: Digital albums on Bandcamp are for Name-Your-Own-Price all month!
MAY OFFER: Digital albums on Bandcamp are for Name-Your-Own-Price all month!
Sxuperion has been keeping busy over the last few years, with the one-man project releasing two full lengths that were two parts of a trilogy and a split with Verräter. On April 30th the band will release ‘Cosmic Void’ on Bloody Mountain Records, the final chapter in the Cosmic Corridors trilogy, which explores the vast expansive void and how weak humanity and their beliefs are compared to it. Today we’re premiering the first song from the album Ardent Hymns Accumulating, which offers raw and unrelenting black/death metal that invites listeners to peer into the void before ultimately destroying them.
This song is absolutely massive, with dense layers of instrumentation working together to create a raw, suffocating feeling. Sxuperion doesn’t waste any time in building up these layers, as right from the very start Ardent Hymns Accumulating does its best to smack you right in the face with an all-out attack. The first half of the song skews a bit more towards death metal tonality wise, with blasting drums and ominous riffing that leads into some sweeping guitar leads. When these leads kick in they have a very mysterious, otherworldly presence, as if allowing you to peer into the vast nothingness of space’s outer limits. About halfway in, the riffs subside and hymns come in. Any other artist might use this as an outro or a way to fade out into another song, but for Sxuperion this is just the beginning. After about a minute, the instrumentals suddenly unleash another attack where the leads get even more abrasive and have colder tonality that has some black metal influence. It’s an intense shift, but the two halves are tied together so well that you’ll likely find yourself drawn back to give it another listen.
Band creator Matthew also plays drums in Valdur and Weverin, but Sxuperion is where he gets the chance to demonstrate his vocal prowess. His pitch comes through as an extremely low growl that has such a full sound that it actually manages to overpower the instrumentals on quite a few occasions. It’s reminiscent of the type of aggressive vocal styles as bands like Adversarial utilize, and it often feels like he’s going to burst out of your speakers and beat you into the dirt. Even with the emphasis on keeping everything raw and abrasive Sxuperion has found that perfect balance between instrumentals and vocals, allowing both elements to feel completely overwhelming over the course of the six minute run-time.
The rest of ‘Cosmic Void’ is able to offer that same otherworldly and mysterious mixed alongside the unrelenting and destructive attack, and the nuances of the riffing make Sxuperion feel much more accomplished than your average black/death metal band. Soak in all of the bleak nothingness and destructive power when this one releases on April 30th.
