The classic sound of death metal is one that has always persisted throughout the many different iterations of the genre, and it’s led to many, many fantastic albums no matter how you look at it. There’s a seemingly infinite number of bands that have been inspired by Death and Morbid Angel alike, and several have tried their hand at blending the two together. All too many fall into the trap of not keeping it raw just like the old school and thus lose some of the appeals, but Cist does no such thing with this brand new EP.

The key part in remaining loyal to the old school of death metal it to make sure you’re not doing too much mixing, remastering, and such in the damned studio for post-production as that takes away the raw nature of the metal, and thus takes it further away from the original sound of death metal. Then you gotta make sure it’s fast enough to melt your fucking skin off. Many bands miss the mark because of a simple misstep, but the Russian act of Cist does no such thing as their latest slab of death metal crossed with thrash is everything that made the genre grand in the first place. Although only boasting a scant five tracks to its name, “The Frozen Casket” is nothing to scoff at by any means whatsoever. Everything about “The Frozen Casket” is a true love letter to the classics of death metal as every single song is an unrelenting onslaught that doesn’t lose its touch for even a microsecond as Cist does an immaculate job of keeping it all tasteful and enjoyable. And while Cist doesn’t do anything different stylistically with “The Frozen Casket”, it’s clear that this original piece is a real homage to the band’s influences and it works out spectacularly as the EP truly grabs you by the balls and proceeds to thrash you into a bloodied corpse even beyond the vicious end. By the end, “The Frozen Casket” is a sinister and exhilarating piece that doesn’t know when to let up, and Cist pulls it off wondrously and with much more skill than a great number of other underground bands of the world.

Old school death metal is far from dying out with throngs of acts keeping the style good and strong in modern times, but sometimes it feels like there aren’t any quality acts out there. That’s where bands like Cist come in to show us there’s still talent to be had for the style. “The Frozen Casket” is nothing we haven’t heard before, but if it isn’t a good fucking time for any fan of the classic death then I don’t know what is!

“The Frozen Casket” releases on March 16th on cassette and digital download!

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