During the rise of Doom Death Metal in the early days of the 90s, concomitantly happened the Second Waves of Black Metal and Death Metal (of course everyone knows that Doom Death Metal is a whole musical genre into Death Metal). So there’s no surprise of thinking that bands would try to mix such subgenres. And since TRISTITIA found a coherent formula for what one could label as Blackened Doom Death Metal, more acts tried to expand limits of it. And trying a way into such genre is the North American quintet CIVEROUS is here with its second full-length, as depicted on “Maze Envy”.

Andrew Solis worked on the sound engineering and mixing, and did the whole production as well (having on the additional the help of Kevin McCombs), with Nick Townsend working on the mastering. The idea on the construction of the sonority of the album: to have a brutal and oppressive appeal in the Doom Death Metal classic sense, but trying to be defined the best they could. The things worked, and here one can understand clearly what’s expressed by the band. And as guest, here is Derek Rydquist on the vocals on “Labyrinth Charm”.

As the first paragraph states, here is a Doom Death Metal act that uses many influences of Black Metal (solely on the oppressive and funereal ambiences). In reality, one could say that they gather influences from the classic Doom Death Metal icons of PARADISE LOST, MY DYING BRIDE and ANATHEMA in their prime, but with some sophisticated elements without relying on keyboards. So it’s brutal and intense, sometimes more atmospheric and nasty, and for the fans of Doom Metal tendencies, it’s really a tasteful release.

There are seven very good songs on “Maze Envy” (some working as intros), and the best ones for a first time on their music are “Shrouded in Crystals” (very good rhythmic changes and fine morbid ambiences created by the guitars), “Labyrinth Charm” (that follows a more classic Death Metal from the 90s tendency, with nasty low grunts piercing the oppressive ambiences), “Maze Envy” with all its toll of more than 9 minutes of oppressiveness (with fine guitar riffs), and “Geryon (The Plummet)”. But it works as a whole album, so the best to do is to listen to it at once for the first time.

It’s obvious that “Maze Envy” isn’t the 8th wonder of the world in Doom Death Metal/Blackened Doom Death Metal. But one can think that the potential of CIVEROUS allows them to create a classic in the future, as they sharpen their musical efforts.