For the last eight years, like thieves in the night, Cowardice have been making moves with great calculation and in great mystery. Releasing the excellent LP Without Condolence in 2016, the band has since focused their releases toward the collaborative spirit that makes this generation of doom musicians so very special. Splits with Chaste and GRST, along with a collaborative tribute to Thou (covered by Cvlt Nation here), all capture a communal conspiring between pioneering minds of heavy music. 2022 saw the band release the Fealty EP, their first solo release in years, with an updated lineup and with a sound elaborated on and polished by over half-a-decade of performing and experimenting. A radiant statement in itself, the EP also documented the extraordinary growth of the band and, fans hoped, forecasted more work in the near future.
That future has come.
Atavist, a double-album consisting of Suzerain and Sentinel, is a brilliant display of the band’s years-long dedication to a songcraft that is studious, innovative, and impassioned. These eleven tracks amoung to almost two hours of expansive doom that explores terrains atmospheric, sludgey, powerful, and deadly. While these long-form conceptual pieces have come to typify modern doom projects, with Bell Witch and Yob being especially powerful examples, Atavist takes an approach more akin to that of fellow New Jerseyites and former sister-group Sunrot, exploring as much of the doom and sludge landscape as possible without losing track of a unifying vision.
With both Suzerain and Sentinel integrating medieval compositional flavors and the scope and gravitas of cosmic doom, Atavist sees the meeting of behemoth and leviathan. The opening track of Suzerain, “To the Hilt of Humanity,” is a fine encapsulation of the monumental forces at work in this grand opus of a double-album. A track that takes its time to boil the listener, “To the Hilt of Humanity” is a tapestry of extraordinary and diverse textures, stretching out to allow for space, and spanning hills and dales. Brutal and beautiful, the track, as the album does, provides a vast aural wilderness beckoning for exploration.
To those who have only dabbled in Cowardice, or to the uninitiated, this track and this double-album will seem as though they have emerged fully-formed from the head of Zeus, but to those of us who have eagerly observed the band’s bamboo-like growth, this generational statement is the band’s making good on the promise of all the potential they’ve shown thus far.
Cvlt Nation is proud to premiere the video for “To the Hilt of Humanity.” The video is directed, photographed, and edited by Stefan Fernandez, and it is produced by Jeremy Ciliberto and Stefan Fernandez.
Be sure to preorder Atavist, which is being released by the band, by Burning World Records (EU), and by Riff Merchant Records (US). Each will have a different unique vinyl colorway. There is also a limited cassette release of #100 copies as well as limited merchandise, available from the band only.
Atavist was recorded by Scot Moriarty (Organ Dealer) at Backroom Studios, mixed by Scott Evans (Antisleep Audio, Kowloon Walled City), and mastered by Magnus Lindberg (Redmount Studios, Cult of Luna).
Primary artwork done by Adam Burke at Nightjar Illustration and insert artwork done by Robin Harris at Mystic Barbarism. Vinyl and cassette layout done by Brendan Coughlin.
