Elegis - Kultus

ELEGIS - Kultus (LIBER KHAOS Productions CD 2020)

"Kultus" is Elegis' second album after "Superhuman Syndrome" from 2017. But this is my first encounter with the music of this Polish band, and I have to say that "Kultus" very quickly managed to catch my attention. I like how Elegis merges different genres of extreme metal here, how intense is their music and how, on the other side, atmospheric it always remains. Because it's always a winning formula if you get a brutal, extreme metal effort, but dark and atmospheric at the same time. You can hardly find it as boring; you know? 

Anyway, don't expect from "Kultus" to bring something you've never heard before. Even from the Polish bands you could say that there are elements of that bombastic, semi technical and brutal death / black metal, which bands like Hate, Behemoth or Lost Soul played over the past few years. I'm not saying that Elegis copies these bands, but only suggest that you may find similar elements to these well known acts here. As for bands from abroad, think of Septic Flesh, even the motherfuckin Nile - that's what comes to my mind, when for instance I hear the excellent title song. 

Yeah... So, you know what to find here. Elegis brings that epic, bombastic, powerful and brutal death metal, with a small orchestral touch - which I am glad has not been overdone and overshadowed the crushing power of guitar savagery. There's just a proper balance between that aspect and the straight forward, fast and vicious death metal. It's good to hear also that so much of "Kultus" is so fast that it rips the intestines and use them to strangle you. Elegis music is very precise, when speaking of how intense, yet very detailed it is, with all these nice guitar parts and killer, blasting drumming. And when fast, this music sounds the best for me. Slower fragments, like "Deus Arcana" - even if still very solid and enjoyable - lack a bit of that spark for me. The album slows down towards the end mostly, so I can easily recommend first few songs the most, like that blasting, brute force of “Apollyon Ave” or “Luminous Pantheon”. Generally though, there’s nothing on “Kultus” what would sound weak or unwanted. It's just a solid modern extreme metal album and I can only recommend it. 

Verdict: 75/100