Cult Burial are a UK-based blackened death metal act whose debut self-titled full length got me interested back in 2020. Admittedly I haven’t returned to it as much as I probably should have, but I listen to a lot of new music every year, and it probably just slipped through the cracks. Their follow-up from 2023, Reverie of the Malignant, was solid, but it didn’t land for me as I’d wanted it to. Now, though, they’re back with third full-length Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust, and the differences in sound from previous records is immediately telling — all for the better.
Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust strikes more vicious in sound than previous albums with an added focus on big headbanging riffs. “Collapse” is an early example of this attitude, serving a sinister bass-driven intro that leads into a gym-worthy drag that persists throughout the rest of the song. Cult Burial also focuses more on dissonance this time around, adding a lot of buzzing harmonics that add to the feeling of general claustrophobia. Each of the tracks has a short intro to set up a general feel, and they all do a great job at creating unease, whether it be swarming dissonance (“Mire”) or oppressive melancholy (“Seethe”). Epic solo guitar work evokes mid-period Behemoth scattered throughout. All the instrumentation is top-notch, really. In particular, the bass stands out, especially in “Beseech,” which has one of the gnarliest bass riffs I’ve heard on a blackened death metal album in quite a while. The art also perfectly captures the record, a piece by Legerdemain, who has made similar abstract and terrifying pieces before.
Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust is a solid album, and is super easy to listen to time and again. Albums like Collapse of Pattern, Reverence of Dust don’t really have any glaring issues but also don’t have phenomenal strengths, either. This isn’t a bad thing at all, though. The end result is an album that’s easy to pick up whenever, set aside if you want to listen to something else, or just keep listening to it. Cult Burial are so close to greatness, and I’m confident that by album four, they’ll add something to make their music truly special, rather than just being very good. As it stands, I’ll continue to enjoy this record, because it’s easy to. This is a solid step-up from previous works, and I have faith Cult Burial will continue this upward trajectory.
