Description

Black vinyl with gatefold cover, poster and a 12 page booklet

At its heart, Cult Of Fire’s Ascetic Meditation Of Death is a normal black metal album and no amount of Hindi language, sitars, or chanting to Kali change that here. With that in mind, the album is still solid. The band doesn’t need anything special or unique to make good music, yet they manage to thoroughly incorporate some unorthodox sounds into the album. This isn’t like how garbage food marketed to children will often be the same thing as adult garbage food, but shaped like a tiger riding a surfboard or have a different color just for novelty’s sake. While having a fair amount of Hindu influence in their atmospheric styled black metal probably makes the band more marketable, Cult Of Fire does more than just add a childish sprinkling of these influences. These elements are enjoyable and well blended, yet the band’s songwriting is still the true engine and that engine is black metal. “Ascetic Meditation Of Death” likely could have just as easily had Cajun or Ainu influences if the band put their efforts in another direction. This is in contrast to bands like Melechesh or Negura Bunget, whose differentness and instrumental decisions are an integral part of their music. Cult Of Fire’s strength comes primarily from a sense of atmosphere that doesn’t require overindulging in repetition. Naturally, their major weakness on this album is the tendency to stray from that strength and make lazy jam-band styled songs. Vocals here are similar to what you might hear from Agalloch, but with a harder driving edge and a more than ample varnish of reverb. What is fantastic about the flow of the album is that both the introductory and closing tracks put the listener in a reverie of sorts, marking a full circle in this aural journey that is suspenseful, emotive and entrancing in its architecture; as well as the fact that the band frequently places upbeat and dynamic tracks before or after more pensive indulgences in line with the spiritual themes of the album. In essence, Cult Of Fire has with this album made for an almost spiritual experience with this sonic austere of a monolithic album. Enough talk, this album is an essential listen, and is a beautiful experience in itself that needs to be absorbed as a whole.

Track list:
1. Black Blood Slaughter
2. On The Funeral Pyre Of Existence
3. Silence Bodies
4. Kali Ma
5. When Death Is All
6. Gruesome Dance Of Death
7. Khanda Manda Yoga
8. Burned By The Flame Of Divine Love