May 2024 Feature Release - The Fallen Edition

Another month flies by, which means it's time to select a new feature release for The Fallen. As it's my turn to choose, I've gone with Civerous' Maze Envy, which was released in March this year. I'll say straight up that this album could just as easily be a Horde feature, but if we ignore albums that are clan crossovers, there'd be a lot of great releases that would never get the exposure they deserve. I must admit I've only given this album a single listen so far, but it immediately caught my attention, and has me wanting for more. Since no-one has rated it here at Metal Academy yet, it seemed an obvious choice for this month's Fallen feature.

It would be great to read what you all think of it either below or in review format.

https://metal.academy/releases/50844

This one has completely passed me by somehow, but a quick glance at it's RYM page has caught my interest and I will be interested to hear how it pans out.

Should this thread not be under The Fallen forum section?

Fixed.

I hadn't heard of Civerous before Ben suggested their latest album, Maze Envy, for the Fallen feature, but a brief overview had me suitably intrigued. Chiefly, the Los Angelinos play an old-school death metal and death doom hybrid which can trace it's lineage back to the likes of Autopsy, but they also like to throw in some progressive tendencies that updates their sound into a more modern beast. And beast it is, the death and death doom components being pretty brutal-sounding with thick, towering riffing sounding at turns both threateningly ominous and bestially viscious. Yet this maelstrom of menacing violence isn't all there is to Maze Envy, there are also moments of beauty and calm reflection, such as that provided by the post-rock guitar work of interlude track, Endless Symmetry, the intro to Levitation Tomb and the sombre middle section of the progressive title track. Elsewhere the closer, Geryon (The Plummet), has a rich gothic atmosphere, reminiscent of My Dying Bride, complete with violin and keyboards, whilst the opening intro track is all dissonant violin work that feels like part of an avant-garde modern classical piece.

But, all that aside, Maze Envy ultimately lives and dies on it's deathly doom metal credentials. Luckily for all of us, these credentials are impeccable and Civerous know what they are about when it comes to old-school death and death doom metal. Think Coffins, but with more outside influences and atmosphere construction, their layering of fairly thin-sounding keyboards over the doomier passages being a big part of the latter. When they let loose, however, their delivery is devastating. Labyrinth Charm for example, is a brutal, ballistic, full-on charge that features a couple of killer guitar solos and Levitation Tomb is a throbbing chug that sounds like a battalion of battle trolls drumming fear into the hearts of their  enemies.

On the downside, one slight criticism I have is that the whole album seems to be a victim of the loudness wars, making it sound like it has been fed steroids to pump it up to unnecessary sound levels, a move that the band hardly need as the music itself is sufficiently aurally arresting without resorting to additional production techniques. On the whole, though, this is a great example of the evolution of the old Autopsy sound into a very modern version of progressive death doom metal, featuring technical skill and imperious songwriting technique, resulting in an album worthy of the attention of any death doom fanatic looking for something that stands out from the crowd.

4/5

Here's my review:

When Ben nominated the brand new sophomore album from Los Angeles death metallers Civerous as our May feature release a couple of weeks ago I found myself full of hopes & dreams of a potentially very positive experience. I’ve given Civerous’ 2021 debut album “Decrepit Flesh Relic” a few listens in recent years & found it to be a very enjoyable experience while the early reports on their newie “Maze Envy” had tended to indicate that it was another step up from the debut so all was boding very well for the potential success of this week's undertaking. None of the reviews I'd read would end up giving me a hint at the magnitude of the impact that “Maze Envy” would make on me though as it’s an astoundingly good extreme metal record & potentially one that will stay with me for many decades.

“Maze Envy” is a seven-track, 42-minute affair that comes in a striking purple cover. It took me a while to come around to the artwork at first but now I find myself loving it. The indecipherable band logo isn’t real flash but thankfully the contents of the album are quite remarkable. You’ll rarely find a better produced death metal record in my opinion with every instrument being full, clear, powerful & in your face while the energy levels are kept high & the crescendos receive earth-shattering power. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the production job is one of the major selling points for the album & I’d be perfectly happy if every metal release I ever heard in my life sounded like this one to be honest.

Civerous’ sound is generally touted as sitting somewhere between the doom/death & death metal genres but I have to admit that I’m not buying the doom/death tag here. Sure, “Maze Envy” has its doomy moments but there’s not enough of that material to justify a dual tag with the general atmosphere sitting clearly in the death metal camp. There are a number of other influences at play here though too with black metal, post-metal & even deathcore & djent receiving the occasional airing. It all works wonderfully well though with the vast majority of the material seemingly reaching the fullest realization of its potential. Front man Lord Foul is an absolute animal & his ultra-gutteral vocals are right up there with the best in the death metal game. They’re offset by the regular use of blackened screams that are almost as effective. I’m also a huge fan of the powerful yet innovative drumming of Aidan Neuner, as well as the subtle keyboards that are incorporated at just the right moments to ensure maximum atmosphere.

Sadly “Maze Envy” begins with its only weak point in the artsy modern classical intro piece “The Azure Eye” which does very little for me but the remainder of the album is right on the money, particularly the second half of the tracklisting which maintains its position in the more elite levels of the death metal hierarchy throughout. The one-two punch of new classics “Levitation Tomb” & the title track is utterly devastating while the two songs that bookend the album (“Shrouded in Crystals” & “Geryon (The Plummet”) aren’t far behind. This is crushingly heavy peak-time death metal of the highest order, so much so that I can easily see “Maze Envy” being my album of the year in another 7-8 months. The contrast of the Spectral Voice/diSEMBOWELMENT style doom/death sections & the more up-front Grave Miasma/Phrenelith/Incantation style death metal is so fucking appealing to this old extreme metalhead that I can hardly contain my joy right now. "Maze Envy" is just what I look for in my metal in 2024.

4.5/5

Just revisited this album and my thoughts remain unfazed by time. By now it should be no surprise that I value melody over sheer brutality in my music and Maze Envy is a solid balance of the two elements. By incorporating more doom elements into a death format means that Civerous play some solid grooves and instrumental leads. The structure is pristine by allowing the album to grow from shorter songs at the beginning, to longer, drawn out doom metal during the second half and creates a real sense of growth and development. That it to say, the long songs at the end of this album are more than justified.

Production can be a hit or miss call with some of the pummeling death metal during the first half coming as being just a little too overwhelming. But when it comes to death doom metal in 2024, Civerous are doing it in a way that was much different than I was expecting, but more than thrilled to give a chance.

4/5