Cult of Fire releasing new album (stream it)

By Doug Moore

In case you’re wondering, मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य — the title of the new Cult of Fire album — is in Sanskrit, which is a liturgically important language for both Hinduism and Buddhism, as Latin is for Catholicism. Cult of Fire themselves are a European (Czech to be specific) black metal band, but like Nile or Absu, they’ve developed a consuming fascination with a foreign religious tradition.

मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य, which comes out at the end of this month, is a year-end-list wrecker. We’re streaming the whole thing over at Invisible Oranges this afternoon. From our writeup:

मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य blooms over eight tracks and nearly 48 minutes. It’s a special little thing. Perhaps that’s because it doesn’t wear black metal in the way teenagers wear band shirts. Cult of Fire appear comfortable under their own cowls. This isn’t a tribute, nor is it retcon-ing a history constantly fictionalized by shipping-obsessed genre nerds. It is Cult of Fire. They have their own voice. It may be colored with the inflections of its family and mentors, but the voice has lived enough to earn its own ticks. Heck, the body has its own scars. And, like Lykathea Aflame before them, those lessons learned provide a script of mantras extolling the unexpected, sweeping beauty of a metal state of mind.

Check out the rest of Ian’s writeup over at IO.

मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य comes out on November 28 via Iron Bonehead Productions. Read Ian’s profile of Cult of Fire drummer Tom Coroner here. And while we’re talking mythologically-inclined black metal that rules, don’t forget that the IO-presented Absu & Villains show at Saint Vitus is tonight (11/18). Don’t miss it.

Stream मृत्युकावीभत्सनृत्य in full below.

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