Cultist Release Debut EP Three Candles
Without departing its central aesthetic foundation, Cultist‘s debut EP goes from its shortest song to its longest, gradually drawing the listener further into its engrossing fuzz and classically minded swing. The five-track offering is the first from the Cleveland, Ohio-based outfit, which boasts members of Skeletonwitch, Mockingbird and Howl in its lineup, and the immediate touchstone sound-wise is Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, whose tonality and still-accessible rhythmic lurch makes its way into songs like “Path of the Old One” and “Consuming Damnation.”
The latter is the centerpiece of the initial short offering, which starts off on a roll with its title-track and carries momentum through the chugging “Follow Me” and the slower, VHS-grain dirge “Eternal Dark” on a thick bed of guitar and bass pushed along at nod-ready pace. Vocals are a distinguishing feature for the force of their delivery and the blown-out means in which they arrive, and particularly “Eternal Dark” seems ready to break out in pursuit of something individual by the time the solo comes around in the second half — backed by a particularly satisfying bassline — so there’s more happening across the EP than simply re-purposing the riff to “I’ll Cut You Down” and writing a couple tracks around it, which is a better start than some acts seem to get these days.
True to form, social media presence is minimal outside of a no-pictures-of-faces Instagram account and a Bandcamp, where Three Candles can be streamed and downloaded. However, what info there is follows here, as seen on the late-night PR wire:
Skeletonwitch bass player and Howl guitarist unveil heavy psych-rock project dubbed Cultist. The group has released a 5 song EP titled “Three Candles” filled with eerie, psychedelic lo-fi rock n’ roll drenched in fuzz. Available now for streaming and download here cultistworship.bandcamp.com
Three Candles EP recorded/engineered/mastered by Ben Vehorn at Tangerine Sound Studios.
Artwork by Justin Bean. Layout by J. Brett Prince. Additional artwork by Nate Kemr.
cultistworship.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/cultist_worship/
Damn. This is really good. Ripple should sign them up.