#119: QEDDESHET - COCYTUS

[Zeus 7997]

 

 

 | When the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole

Indie death metal/black metal outfit QEDDESHET crawled out of the most decrepit orifice imaginable sporting what would become their trademark sound in 2018, and instantly caught my attention for the vocalist's lackluster lip syncing and emotionless expressions in their "COLLAPSE" music video. Visual kei dabbles in many genres, but black metal and death metal are two of the most uncommon ones, and tend to be mixed with other, more easily accessible genres. QEDDESHET is having none of that, and refuse to adopt the quintessential visual kei sound despite nailing the visual aspect. In that regard, I'd classify this band along with the likes of Deviloof as a new tier of band pushing the extreme metal sound into a more brutal arena than ever before.

 

I thought that I would love COCYTUS, or at least find it tolerable given my description, but I don't. It's a draining experience for a mini album that barely scratches a half hour. COCYTUS only ever moves at the speed of a blast beat, and the vocalist only has deep growls and deeper growls, so each song retains the same exact oppressive atmosphere. No matter how technically impressive playing all the goddamn notes in the universe at the speed of light is, it gets old when that's all there is. "CALL MY NAME", the second and oldest track on the mini album, is a perfect example of how QEDDESHET gets it right and wrong at the same time. It's much more textured than previewing the other four tracks would prime you to expect, but the transition to the poppy chorus takes all the wind out of its sails. The vocalist's reluctance to raise his voice any higher than a throaty mid range roar is at odds most when the chorus hits, and the result is awkward. The band is not on the same page during these rare moments. A lot of pain points can be easily solved if the vocalist adds mumbling, screeching, singing, and/or mid range guttural rapping to his toolkit. Literally anything to spice up the endless variations of garbage disposal gutturals would go a long way.

My review reads like I have a gigantic hate boner for this quartet, but COCYTUS is not a trash release. I try to reserve descriptions of "trash" for things that truly are bottom of the barrel, like idiot or I.T.G. QEDDESHET is bringing more metal sensibilities to the scene, and ultimately more influences is what keeps visual kei fresh. Not many other bands sport this sound, so there's an opportunity for them to carve out a niche. The vocalist is absolutely insane with some of the noises that he can do and is easily one of the best harsh vocalists the scene has ever seen. The rest of the musicians, especially the guitarists, can string some really mean riffs and beats together, although again I feel like there's a bit too much emphasis on speed and technicality over creating memorable melodies. I'm also digging the amorphous, avant garde structure of a lot of these songs, because passages and refrains rarely repeat.  I would like to see what they are capable of with a slower pace and heavier riffs. 

 

COCYTUS is an acquired taste and it's not for everyone, and that is okay. It's not for me. It's a legit recommendation for those into the most extremes of metal, but that's about it.
 

 

[Seimeisen 4406]

TRAGEDY OF AVALON is a good, solid track, nothing cringe-y, nothing trashy, just a good extreme metal track.

 

I wish I could say the rest about this mini, but the rest is, well... SHET (ba-dum *tss*). The music videos for COLLAPSE and COCYTUS are so fucking terrible, the songs themselves have been rendered unlistenable. To be fair though, COLLAPSE would be much better if instead of those horrible vocals they'd just stick with your average typical black metal screeches. I'm convinced that COLLAPSE has no lyrics and the vocal track is just a microphone test (what the fuckity-fuck was he doing at 1:24? LMAO). Whoever directed those videos should be legally prohibited from owning any type of camera. CALL MY NAME was decent until the chorus. REVELATION started off bland and got worse in the middle with the fucking annoying pig squeal.

 

Whenever I hear the pig squeals or gurgling, I wanna shove an ice pick in my brain

[JamesR 119]

Yeah, these guys are pretty heavy,  but it is some pretty run-of-the-mill extreme metal. Kinda like the lower tier Florida bands (Massacre, Broken Hope, etc...)

[Zal 0]

Poor man's Deviloof.