AN NCS PREMIERE: CELL — “ERASING THE PLANE OF EXISTENCE”

This song is called “Erasing The Plane of Existence“. It’s from a concept album called The Frozen Moon of Erebath, with a story line that takes place in a galaxy other than our own where a race of beings have destroyed their own planet but continue to plot and plan a galactic conquest from the dead planet’s frozen moon. And the music is performed by men in corpsepaint. Feel free to guess what it will sound like, but you’ll probably be wrong.

When black metal goes off exploring the cosmos, the results are often frigid, atmospheric, and ambient. But the band Cell from Winnipeg, Canada, have found their inspiration not in the desolation of the void but in visions of chaos, and their stories are narrative metaphors for humanity’s own self-destructive greed, hate, and lust for power.

Yet even with that additional insight, the music still may not be what you expect. “Erasing the Plane of Existence” is a twisting, turning, head-spinning trip, one that’s as technically exuberant and progressive in its inclinations as it is vicious and hateful. Within the context of the album’s conceptual story line, it continues delving into “the destruction of a civilisation from pure curiosity in science and inventions”.

The song begins with a slow, heavy, morbidly grim guitar instrumental, but soon enough the drummer starts his attack (with snare strikes that sound like gunshots and a bass drum that resembles a mortar barrage) and the guitar and bass come to life explosively. The pace slows again, the music transforming into flickering guitar notes and moaning bass sounds, and then with a hair-raising shriek the band accelerate again into a maniacal frenzy — one that’s interrupted by an unexpected bass solo (!) before a final instrumental freakout.

This trio clearly have impressive instrumental chops, and creative ideas that seem unrestrained by the gravity well of standard genre fare. Without wholly abandoning the ferocity of their black metal influences, they’ve gone rocketing off into space on an unpredictable course of their own. Judging from this song, it should be a very interesting ride.

The Frozen Moon of Erebath is set for release on October 14. It includes album art by Remy at Headsplit Design. For more info, check these links:

https://www.facebook.com/cellcosmicgods/
https://cellandvoid.bandcamp.com

Track List:
1. Gateway to Erebath
2. Drained And Lifeless
3. Cosmic Portal Ov Hell
4. Symbiotic Parasite
5. Celestial Hybrid
6. The Infinity Gauntlet
7. Erasing The Plane Of Existence
8. Infinite Flux
9. Rage Upon The Celestial Effigy Of Infinity Time And Space