Civerous - Maze Envy (2024)^{Release ID: 50844}

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.

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.

Death Doom Metal and me get along quite well. Traditional Doom Metal and me also like each others company. Myself and death metal is...complicated.

Unlike most of the regulars here at Metal Academy, my metal roots (barring the Gateway clan) come from the Guardians. This is quite the change of pace from the most extreme and dank sides of the Horde, North and Pit. I always enjoy a good melodic lead to keep songs alive and memorable beyond simple textures. Death Doom Metal has become my safe place when it comes to finding music that is death metal adjacent that also has its fair share of melodically driven tracks. That said, I've also grown impatient with Death Doom Metal. I thought the whole purpose of having "Death" in the subgenre was to imply the cacophonous nature of Death Metal, but it seems to just refer to a type of Doom that has harsh vocals.

Let's just say that I was hesitant with Maze Envy, the newest album from Civerous. And it was published through 20 Buck Spin. Their is no way that this album could possibly live up to my lofty expectations right?

Well for starters, this album takes the phrase "Death Doom Metal" very seriously. This record takes influence from Dead Congregation with albums like Promulgation of the Fall where it has influences in both genres. There are portions of this record where blast beats prevail, guitar chugging is filthy and Lord Foul's vocals are pummeling. On the other hand, slower, doom-y riffs that can sometimes feel like they have metalcore influence, with wailing guitar leads serve a well needed compliment to the restlessness. But most importantly, both of these ideas fit well together. Melodic connectivity is extremely well done and greatly improves both of this albums nine (9) plus minute tracks at its end.

Which leads nicely into this albums pacing. The album feels a lot heavier during its opening moments with "Shrouded In Crystals" (which itself is eight-and-a-half minutes), "Labyrinth Charm" and "Levitation Tomb" and they leave me wanting more. Civerous follow that up with those final two tracks; the title track "Maze Envy" and "Geryon (The Plummet)." The more doom focus here makes for a more enjoyable, melodic experience as themes ebb and flow in-and-out together leaving both of them feeling complete. This band is not playing heavy for the sake of heaviness and it shows in the runtime; this album could have easily exceeded fifty (50) minutes, but opening the record with shorter, heavier songs helps the longer closing tracks become more rewarding.

The mixing of Maze Envy is pretty good actually. It actually sounds heavy with booming guitars that, as mentioned previously, do have some metalcore spice added in during some of the albums doom-y passages. The vocals form Lord Foul are genuinely impressive; they do not reinvent the wheel in any meaningful way, but their presentation is splendid and help to accentuate the dark themes presented. However, like with a lot of power metal albums, the synths here are just bad. They could have replaced many of their synth leads with the strings or even an extra guitar lead to help make this album sound even bigger, but instead these moments take a pretty decent mix and turn it flaccid in an instant.

I really liked Maze Envy, despite my initial concerns. It's an album that knows the difference between sounding heavy and actually doing it. It's also not an album that is afraid of melodies and leads, which lends into its memorability. And the structure of the album is set in a way where the album becomes more atmospheric and surreal during its runtime. If it wasn't for the flaws in the production, Maze Envy might have been a classic. Either way, it is a wonderful little album that should satisfy all walks of metal life.

Best Songs: Shrouded In Crystals, Levitation Tomb, Maze Envy