Review by Sandre the Giant
The debut, self titled record from mysterious US duo Cloud of Flies comes to us from Centipede Abyss, a record label that is putting out some very good, under the radar releases this year. Much of it is discordant and incomprehensible, so let’s see where this latest ‘death metal’ release takes us. Don’t take that as sarcasm, Centipede Abyss records tend to bend the limits of genres, as well as reality, a lot.
Well, after an unsettling intro there is a brief pause and ‘Vacuousness’ kicks in with a wall of muffled, lo-fi death metal fury. Incomprehensible was a word I used earlier and I’m bringing it back, this is one of the most suffocating things I’ve ever heard. It is like some of those really early Carnage demos, any sense of melody or freedom drowning in the sludgy, atonal murk of ‘Undertaken Order’. Portal is an obvious touchstone here, but even they didn’t delve quite as deep into the abyss as ‘Chagrinned’. I wouldn’t quite say that ‘Cloud of Flies’ is an endurance test, but there are moments where you really feel like you are about to be consumed by the fog of death emanating from this record.
A cavernous, cacophonous record of unsettling, murky death metal that feels like the sound of oxygen deprivation, Cloud of Flies have rended the universe apart in search of the most cataclysmic sounds. Dense, disorientating and ugly in extremis, ‘Cloud of Flies’ is a challenging listen but you cannot help but be impressed at the sheer darkness on display. If you find a lot of current death metal boring or not heavy enough, then this might be up your street. Also, what is wrong with you, seriously….?
https://www.facebook.com/TheCentipedeAbyss
https://centipedeabyss.bandcamp.com/album/cloud-of-flies
The Killchain 