Cult Leader formed from the remains
of legendary sludge/hardcore group Gaza and quickly found their stride with the
release of “Nothing For Us Here” in April of 2014. Comprised of 6 tracks, the
EP totals a brutal 18 minutes of brooding, dissonant hardcore that sets the
mood from the opening track God’s Lonely
Children. Anthony Lucero’s goosebump inducing vocals ring out over the sea
of harsh feedback and sparse, arrhythmic drumming with chants of “There is
nothing for us here, move on”, destroying any remaining sense of hope the
listener might cling to within the first minute. The 99 second noise
introduction gives way to the furious opening blast beats of Flightless Birds, a song that provides
no respite from the grinding fury and gives us our first look at the
songwriting prowess of Cult Leader. Discordant but beautifully constructed
progressions highlight the technical ability of the band but throughout the EP
Cult Leader never becomes reliant on technicality to keep the listeners
attention.
The true standout track on this album
is the third, Mongrel. Mongrel might be the most instrumentally
simple and repetitive, but there’s something so powerful about the way the
tension is built and released through a riff only varied through the addition
and subtraction of vocals, bass, and a second guitar. The song builds to a
furious finale and ends suddenly with only a moment’s rest before the start of The Indoctrinator’s Deathbed, a song
that inevitably draws comparisons to Gaza’s roots in sludge metal. The
transition into Skin Crawler is so natural
and seamless it feels like the same song, although Skin Crawler is significantly groovier than the aggressive sludge
of The Indoctrinator’s Deathbed. Both
songs are good, but don’t stand out as anything special given the bar set by
the EP’s opening three songs.
“Nothing For Us Here” ends on the
highest of notes with Driftwood, a
six minute long song filled to the brim with haunting, melodic guitar work and
earnest lyricism. Again, this song stands out because of Cult Leader’s skillful
build and release of tension with the song growing to a massive, powerful
climax before slowly fading out, bringing the listener back to reality. This
song will make you feel sad, and any song that can so intensely conjure those
kinds of emotions is truly well written.
Fortunately for fans of hardcore
everywhere, Cult Leader recently finished recording their new album but as of
now it does not have a release date. If “Nothing For Us Here” is any
indication, it will be one of the top albums of 2015. I’d say that Cult Leader is
one of the hottest new bands in hardcore, but given 75% of the band’s
experience in Gaza, that seems a bit disingenuous. Nevertheless, you should not
sleep on this band because it’s apparent great things are on the way.
-Jack
Tracklist:
1.
God’s Lonely Children
2.
Flightless Birds
3.
Mongrel
4.
The Indoctrinator’s Deathbed
5.
Skin Crawler
6.
Driftwood
Download (320kbps)
http://www78.zippyshare.com/v/12094110/file.html