Release
date: March
06th
2020.
Label: Stolen
Body Records (CD/DD/Vinyl) & LSDR (CD)
Records.
The
Sixth Glare - Tracklisting
1.Infection
2.Incubation
3.Prodromal
4.Convalescence
04:52
5.The
Great Blackout
6.After
the Thaw
7.The
Sixth Glare
8.Red
Swarm Beyond 05:51
9.Vermivora
bachmanii
Members
Matt Neicho (Drums)
Review
The
Sixth Glare is the new album from Post-Doom/Sludge Metal
Instrumentalists – Cegvera – and is easily their most ambitious
and creative album to date. The album is a concept album that tells
the following story
‘The
Sixth Glare’ is a reference to the environmental crisis that we are
living through today and the anthropogenic extinction events that are
referred by world-renowned scientists as ‘the Sixth Mass
Extinction’.
“The
Sixth Glare stands as a conversation that needs to take place. The
world is in danger of killing itself. You will find this subject
embodied from the smallest scratch of the artwork (Hellbound
Graphics, México) to the last second of the final track. The scene
is actually set as precursor to Vinnum Sabbathi’s upcoming album
‘Of Dimensions and Theories’ (also to be released this year via
SBR) which Gerardo plays drums on.”
This
album may have come out at right time or wrong time depending on your
point of view.
The
album is quite a dark, complex and unforgiving journey into the
darker side of Instrumental Post-Doom/Sludge Metal and Cegvera never
shy away playing heavy grooves on this album. Taking cues from
Pelican and Neurosis on this album Cegvera successfully navigate
their way round through the many different styles of
Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal they include on this album.
Opening
song – Infection – opens with a quiet Ambient/Post-Rock vibe
which stays that style of music for the next ninety seconds. Though,
be prepared of a heavier and more threatening style of music from
here on in.
Second
song – Incubation – offers a more nightmarish style of music that
we haven’t really heard from Cegvera and it’s an uncompromising
blend of current topical themes that leave you unsettled in places.
Though, it’s the music that we are here for and the remedy is loud
and aggressive Sludge based sounds from start to finish. Swirling
ambient sound effects add another layer of real life theatrics that
just add to the overall gloominess of the album.
Third
song – Prodromal – carries on the bleak and apocalyptic style of
music with an Ambient Post-Rock sound that takes quite a while to
fully get moving but the different textures of the album soon build
up to a more violent and progressive style of Post-Rock/Post-Metal.
This is one of the standout songs on the album with Cegvera excelling
in creating a cold hearted look at the world especially with the
soundclips that the band cleverly use within the structure of the
song.
Fourth
song – Convalescence – has a more subdued Psychedelic Post-Rock
vibe and Cegvera create a more relaxed mood for the first few moments
of the song and this reminds me of early-Pelican in so many ways.
Mainly how the song moves quietly onto a more emotional and distant
level whilst still being firmly in the realm of Post-Rock/Post-Metal.
As
you can tell by the following song titles - The Great Blackout, After
The Thaw, The Sixth Glare, Red Swarm Beyond and Vermivora bachmanii,
the album carries on with its apocalyptic theme with the end of
civilization drifting ever closer and told superbly well through the
use of heavy riffs, ambient sounds and distant soundclips moving the
story along.
The
Great Blackout, The Sixth Glare and Red Swarm Beyond are the other
tracks where Cegvera excel the most. As the music is always
constantly challenging and evolving into a more emotional and
cinematic based narrative. You can expect more of the same stylish
mix of Post-Doom, Sludge Metal, Psych and Ambient based riffs on the
second part of the album with the band creating a nightmarish world
coming to an end.
The
production of The Sixth Glare is first class and this is perhaps the
best Cegvera have ever sounded. Maybe the album will be to bleak for
some but there is a hidden beauty to it all and it makes for a truly
epic and brilliantly entertaining album.
However,
this is only the first part of a two-part story. As the story
continues within the upcoming Vinnum Sabbathi album – Of Dimensions
And Theories. As Cegvera Lead Guitarist – Gerardo – is a member
of both bands and it’s quite rare for two different bands to
continue the story on different albums. So expect The Sixth Glare to
be the first part in a truly magnificent Science Fiction narrative.
However,
this is Gerardo and Matt chance to shine and purely as a Cegvera
album, this is their best album to date.
Words
by Steve Howe
Thanks
to Cegvera
and Stolen Body Records for
the promo.
The Sixth Glare will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Stolen Body Records and CD via LSDR from March 06th
2020.
Links:
