Through Cosmic Corridors
Sxuperion
•
April 26, 2015
The first full-length studio album by SXUPERION since its formation in 1998, "Through Cosmic Corridors" submerges you into a tenebrous realm of ambient yet mischievous black metal, all while experimenting wizardly combinations, either emphasizing or countering the potent main characteristic of the album: the nonpareil depth of sound.
The titles of the tracks hint towards scientific terms, yet contradicted by the spiritual aura reigning like a gamma brain wave as in the intro of "Purulent Spiritual Interstellar Void". The paramount component is undoubtedly the untold fusion of the bass and the fast tempo drums are fused till the homogeneity of one. Another fairly significant point is the ultra-depth of the growls, the whole ensemble transporting grave sounds to a level beyond belief. Much similar to the solos from Death's early-mid career, the sliding guitar represents a definite criterion of the technical ability piercing the entire atmospheric mood too low-profile yet too ample at once.
What seems like a prayer at first thought turned in fact into the grim and merciless splash cymbals of "Through Cosmic Corridors" that any hardcore headbanger craves like blood and gold, all through a turbo tremolo at a borderless speed relentlessly digging way below the 20 Hz that the ears of ours the mere mortals can detect.
The apparent pattern of some of the tracks as that of "Advanced Matter Drive For Ecclesiastical Dust" is a brief atmospheric intro followed up by the big entry with an arsenal of mass destruction staggering back into the intro. Nonetheless, you can't really tell what's going on the "mastermind's mind" as an all-or-nothing va et vient between polar opposites is easily noticeable with no passages blending the two components. Still, the ultra echoed solo guitar ultra echoed is perhaps the most enjoyable piece of the puzzle genuinely giving you shivers down your spine. In fact, a presumably lone wolf brought to life what quartets couldn't: a supposedly unfathomable heap yet delivering an easily understood message gracefully expressing a somber état d'âme. Seriously, this can't be merely hollow loudness!
The morbid atmosphere is further broached when the mayhem of ferocious fast tempo drums superposes on a linear and fluid guitar solo, such is the striking contrast in "Denied Canonical Delivery" which rather than it being one regular track, several were tied played in succession none related to another yet with instruments as unified as a keyboard sound - as even an open chord gets all its might and impact. This carefree attitude is carried on in "Virulent Arrival of Demonic Hyper-Space Denomination" the solo guitar forging its own league albeit recurrent and predictable at times. However, the track doesn't go on without a few mini-surprises such as a glimpse of a thrash pattern backed by interesting drumming as well as actually clean vocals here and there, and most of all the Gregorian chant with a new age background setting the pace to the last two tracks "A World Out Of Time" and "Beyond The Event Horizon", the first simulating a heartbeat like a clock ticking with visible atmospheric elements such as rain and thunder, miming cup-emptying Zen music. The latter follows up even more intense, tribal, mystical and sophisticated, experimenting with every possible effect on the electrical drum. All in all, it gave the impression of an om mantra redundant till the point of hypnosis.
Although a 90s act, this ambient experimental journey didn't follow through the steps of the traditional 90s black metal wave concerning not only the structure but the whole mood. It's been obviously put on by an artist producing whatever he pleases not giving a damn and oppositely taking no shit.<
6 / 10
Had Potential
"Through Cosmic Corridors" Track-listing:
1. Purulent Spiritual Interstellar Void
2. Through Cosmic Corridors
3. Advanced Matter Drive For Ecclesiastical Dust
4. Teller Control Panel
5. Denied Canonical Delivery
6. Virulent Arrival of Demonic Hyper-Space Denomination
7. A World Out Of Time
8. Beyond The Event Horizon
Sxuperion Lineup:
Lord Sxuperion - Vocals, All Instruments
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