French black metallers, The Great Old Ones are among my favorite things to happen to the genre in recent years. Their new record Cosmicism leads to even more Cthulu inspired magic from the band. These Frenchmen unleash pure occult bile here, building on previous notions, but also creating one of their most dynamic records to date. It's been quite the journey to watch them evolve and Cosmicism shows a band who went from beating you over the head with riffs to one who have created something much more nuanced and demented.
On previous The Great Old Ones records I felt at times almost choked out by the oppressive heaviness. In many ways that was a big part of the appeal of the band. This album shies away from a lot of that and instead touches on acoustic outtros and tasteful synth parts. The balls out heaviness is still there but Cosmicism sees the band embracing a little more subtlety and using that to conjure up even more magical cosmic horror. The lyrical themes remain Lovecraftian as ever though with one of the standout tracks being the mind melting assault of A Thousand Young - a fitting sonic tribute to one of my favorite elements of the mythos.
The Great Old Ones have knocked it out of the park once again. It's really as simple as that. Cosmicism was the next logical step for one of the best bands in black metal and the more time I spend with this band the more I respect them. They are among the greatest songwriters in the genre and consistently operate on the cutting edge. Cosmicism is tastefully delivered and wonderfully executed. This is the sort of band Season of Mist excel at finding and the type of band you can only want more of.
Find them on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/thegreatoldones/
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