Hailing from the lands of Russia, come forth the melodic death metal band entitled, CULT OF MADNESS. The band formed in 2018, and have released its first EP in June of this year: "Insanity." This six track release dives from a melodic beginning to a death metal or metal core feel as the release reached its intensity, before diving back to the melodic formulations. Though not an incorrect setup, it does make for a piece that is hardly grounded in a particular genre. Thus, I would by no means call this project 'melodic,' as it does not deserve that title. As the release is an EP, for an album there will need to be a honing of their skills and ideas.

"Cult Of Madness" begins in an echoed nature; a high pitched ambience revolves like a placid chaos around the quiet strings of the guitar. A voice speaks in the background as if it were a radio of some sorts. Keyboards fall overtop before notes collide with one another in a fast paced trill. As the bass thumps, and the drums beat solemnly, the high pitched altitude continues before abruptly stopping.

In "A Leper World," the ambience is spread thinly and the notes are off-tuned. As the guitars somberly play, a piano dusts the notes up and down adding in a calmness to the piece. The heaviness of the guitars with the bass combat the speed of the drums. The voice comes forth within the piece as a deepened growl, and the tune changes slightly to a more playful understanding. As the voices layer, the guitars lose their personality and become woven into the song. The track breakdowns and the guitar is featured by itself as a harmonious solo piece before being threaded back towards entropy.

Eerie air moves through the beginning part of "Ritual." As to what it is, the sound remains a mystery. Heavier guitars come forth and are shaken within the track's violent nature. It is quite differentiated from the previous as the bass is represented whereas the lighter parts of the guitar and synths are not strewn throughout. Drums beat without much of a tightened pace while the voice growls at a sounder pace. As the song continues, the guitars gain a solo piece where they harmonize in power, and the piece never loses its grasp on their idea.

In a similar fashion to how the previous track began, "Live Like Immortal" is also rooted in its spaciousness. With heavy rolling nature of the drums combined with the crisp notes of the guitars, the piece exhibits a stronger tone than it began with. As the voice growls, drums and guitars weave in and out of various tones, movements and tempos. The bass settles into a lower atmosphere whilst the guitars carry an unsettling, but simple harmony. The drums continue at an uneven pace to the end of the track.

The bass reverberates in metal-core fashion, and carries "Reign Of Insanity" up in down in frequencies. Whilst this is occurring, the drums begin slowly but pick up speed as the song progresses without change in melodies. The voice is extremely differentiated than the previous tracks and growls at a lower monotony. Though the tune shifts slightly, the piece remains uncomplicated and uninteresting. There fail to be layers that appeal to the previous tracks, and  the project's meaning is still unknown.

In "Up To The Throat," darkened synths sound atmospheric-like before double kicking drums shoot their way through the entropic field. A high-pitched format of the guitars fades over this, but is abstractly blended with the other instrumentation. Shifts in melodies occur, but are never lost to the greater surroundings. The piece fades in the ambience it began with.

CULT OF MADNESS' "Insanity," is a whirlwind of heavier notes and harsh journeys. Throughout the piece, the music toys with the listener's ears, pulling them in one direction then throwing them back to that first direction in a short line. Though the sound quality with the instrumentation were excellently produced, I had a difficult time with the music itself as it did not feel original and, rather tasteless. For an EP, it sounds to be professionally made, though the music itself needs a 'hook' factor that it lacked. Nevertheless, the project has an intense start and sound.