Cognizance emerges from the shadows.
Only two years after their last release, Alex Baillie (guitar/vocals, Soulfracture, ex-XisForEyes), David Diepold (drums, ex-Obscura), Chris Binns (bass, ex-XisForEyes), and Apostolis Karydis (guitar) return with Willowtip Records for the release of their fourth album, In Light, No Shape.
Although Transient Fixations starts off gently, its unsettling sounds will fool no one: they merely foreshadow the explosion of technicality and violence that descends upon us without warning, blending dissonance and raw power at the highest level. The leads allow themselves a few calmer moments before moving into Inflection Chants, which immediately feels more hazy, quickly calling for a more stifling, Prog-oriented approach, giving the complexity a different flavor. The tempo is also slower, allowing for almost haunting touches, in contrast to A Game of Proliferation, which offers a very jerky and brutal Deathcore-focused approach, but one that is far darker, denser, and more mysterious. We continue with Chasm, which creates a sort of middle ground, blending both ethereal passages and touches of controlled rage, returning to its chaotic tones during the harmonics before abruptly shifting to Vertical Illusion, borrowing some aggressive old-school influences from melodic death metal. The groove is a bit more pronounced on A Reconfiguration, which washes over us in waves, letting us savor every surge as well as the brief moments of suspension, but the final casts its oppressive shadow before releasing us with Witness Marks, which returns to its stark contrast between violence and gentleness. The rhythm section tramples us savagely, letting the guitar and vocals bring a bit of diversity to the steamroller; the break barely gives us a chance to catch our breath before the song picks up again, and it’s finally with Subterranean Incantation that we get to experience a majestic touch that blends perfectly with the more violent jolts. Here again, the prog roots are amplified and magnified before giving way to those of Induced Contortions, far more explosive, which never hesitate to soar over a fairly straightforward foundation to weave their hypnotic and sometimes more surprising tones. A final burst of violence comes with The Zone, which barely takes the time for an introduction before crashing down on us with its extremely jagged riffs, reconnecting with Deathcore roots but also featuring calmer leads to close out the album in style.
Cognizance has found its path with short, highly effective tracks that effortlessly draw on recognizable roots. In Light, No Shape is as aggressive as ethereal, and each track has its own distinct identity, carved out between Prog Death and Deathcore.
80/100