Tuesday, 3 March 2020

Cegvera - The Sixth Glare (Album Review)


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

Gerardo Arias (Guitar)
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.

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