Have you ever heard of Litosth? I haven’t until now.
Formed in 2016 in Brazil, the band led by Maicon Ristow (vocals/all instruments, I Gather Your Grief, ex-Swords at Hymns) and Wendel Siota (lyrics, Dark Celebration, I Gather Your Grief) sign with Personal Records for the release of Cesariana, their third album.
The duo attack with In Waves, an impressive yet haunting first composition welcoming effective riffs and chilling melodies to accompany the rocky vocals. A few orchestrations reinforce the jerky passages before a majestic final, which leads us to Whipping Bottles, a veritable ocean of darkness as gentle as it is fascinating, and easily occupies our minds. Vocals are also slower, even temporarily transforming into a spoken voice before the instrumental becomes busier, then Time Doesn’t Heal unveils a steadier rhythm, which perfectly fits with the vivid epic sounds. The musician also integrates some more martial parts, allowing us to take full advantage of the keyboards, as on the hypnotic The Clay Messiah, which infuses its dark riffs with mysterious, threatening influences. The track also allows itself a few softer flights before letting A Ofensa take over with an equally eerie sound that places slow, dissonant passages between its intense blast phases. The heady leads also take on heavier hues, but the band return to tranquility on the introduction to The Argonaut, which recalls intoxicating Post-Rock accents before returning to raw Black Metal to which harmonics are naturally grafted. The tone remains icy, while Caesarean develops a rather different, almost playful approach to the cutting leads that haunt the track, while retaining the fierce spikes of acceleration. The album comes to a close with The Vaccum Extractor Paradigm, the longest track on the album, which sets bright tones before the onslaught of rhythm-shifting riffs that lead to the inevitable silence.
Litosth‘s Cesariana tracks have no trouble mesmerizing us. The album is well-constructed and the riffs follow one another in a very natural way, leaving the dark tones to break between two waves of quietness.
85/100
