It’s been in the last few days that I’ve had the immense pleasure of checking out some incredibly experimental music and have used that word enough for a fucking lifetime, but it’s just so damn appropriate! So, when I dove into today’s record when it was dubbed as “progressive”, I wondered if it was going to be out of this world progressive or just mixing in some new styles with black metal. Constantly keeping the listener on their toes and delivering one of the most organic and eclectic black metal performances I’ve heard so far this year, Creature manages to hop between the two constantly.

It’s not incorrect to label this as progressive black metal, but that would be to ignore the dozens of different layers that are constantly at play here. “Ex Cathedra” is the epitome of what it means to take one particular style, black metal in this case, and simply let the music branch of itself it different directions whether it be to a musical style that’s pretty close to confusingly distant. It can effortlessly become an absolute clusterfuck if executed slightly wrong or put in incapable hands, but it’s here that Creature proves to be in a league of his own. To say that Creature successfully brought together styles that normally shouldn’t work in such grandiose style throughout all of “Ex Cathedra” would be a true insult to his craft. Taking bits from style from what feels like literally everywhere, we see lots of prog, classical music in beautiful detail, French pop, and much more, Creature succeeds at being an act that isn’t afraid to hop between genres at a moment’s notice and he does it all with only the finest of achievements coming out as a result. It’s all so fucking riveting as well! Creature always knows how to keep the listener of the edge of their seat as “Ex Cathedra” is always changing in shape and sound while constantly showing us just how versatile of a musician this man is, and he never once fails to take things one step further while simultaneously keeping everything humble in an emotional sense that permeates every note whether it be violent or dramatic. Everything about this record takes the very concept of progressive black metal to another plane altogether, and I can’t help but feel that it will continue to be a stand-out release when we go to comb back over the year’s releases in December that Creature will absolutely be a reoccurring name.

The past ten days have been a true boon to me with all the crazy acts I’ve heard the pleasure of listening to, and I didn’t think that Creature would result in being a contender for the best out of all of them but here I am almost definite that it’s leagues ahead of the rest. It’s crazy in all the best ways possible in a way that should give Creature a following that such excellence deserves all the time, and if “Ex Cathedra” doesn’t result in many realizing this is a name that must be heard by all adventurous metalheads across the globe then that is a true crime like very few others.

“Ex Cathedra” releases on June 26th via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Ex Cathedra” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Creature on Facebook here.