CRONOS COMPULSION - Malicious Regression (Review)

Written by: The Administrator

I undoubtably speak for everyone here: sometimes we all just need our craniums caved in with a boulder the size of a small boulder. When you require such necessary service, I highly recommend looking no further than Denver's Cronos Compulsion. Just take a gander at the appropriately burly and bloody album artwork for this (very good) five track EP and let me know what Malicious Regression sounds like. Your suspicions are undoubtably correct.

Cronos Compulsion wield a truly neolithic approach to the model of simple but bluntly effective riffcraft, alongside a rumbling doomy density. The vocals are as bestial and cavernous as ye might expect. At times, ambient harsh noise serves to break up and/or intensify the abyssal soundscape. Bludgeoning atmosphere is the general rule, and when the riffs encounter peak sludge, a notable sense of despair prevails. Personally, I find these slower and gloomier moments to be some of the strongest. While there are certainly no weak songs, the lumbering "Consumed By Malignant Spirit" is an absolute crushing track, and, by extension, one absolute hell of a closer.

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​After 17 trim minutes your cranium will be left a pulp, and to their credit, Cronos Compulsion don't need anything other than high-quality execution of genre convention to reach this violent inevitability. While undoubtedly heavy as all fuck, this crew does not represent the pinnacle of extremity in any particular direction. They aren't the most behemothian, most cavernous, most aggressive, most brutal, and so on. Rather, Cronos Compulsion have done an excellent job of finding a well-orchestrated balance between the elements that one typically attributes to skullcrushing death metal. They have concocted a high-quality listening experience that demonstrates enough muscular heft to awaken our slumbering populace, and yet enough variety to keep us wholeheartedly engaged.

Malicious Regression is a release that I have very much enjoyed. It is a joy to listen to, plain and simple. High quality death metal isn't exactly hard to find these days, but with that said, fans of the craft will do well to slid this EP into rotation alongside the more recognizable names and heavy hitters. Cronos Compulsion have cemented themselves quite quickly as a band worth watching.

Cronos Compulsion - Malicious Regression was relased May 12th, 2023 via Caligari Records.Find it here!

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Cronos Compulsion can be found:
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