Ukrainian solo outfit Celophys will release its sixth album, Neanderthal, this Friday, Aug. 21, through Robustfellow Productions. The band operates with Oleksandr Beregovyi as its lone denizen, and was last heard from with 2022’s Wulong, though “Paleo Dub,” which closes here, was also issued as a standalone single in 2025 and while four years matches his longest stretch between LPs, his country has been at active, happening-there war for years now — at least since 2022, if you don’t count from 2014, which you probably should do — so maybe that takes some extra time as well.

But Celophys‘ concerns, broadly-speaking, are less of our age. Neanderthal presents four songs of agonized ultrasludge, and thematically, as the band always has and in keeping with a name derived from a genus of dinosaurs that lived more than 200 million years ago, the album revels in its own ancient lore. And actually, considering the stretches of time the band usually concerns itself with and that the neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago — give or take; I think it was a Tuesday — Neanderthal is about as close to modernity as Celophys has gotten in a while. Fair enough for a sound that so readily evokes images of towering, lumbering, impossible-seeming beastliness, laid out across “Mammoth March” in such a way that casts footprints as it goes. Honestly these songs could be about renewing your driver’s license and they’d still be crushing, but the cohesion of purpose makes Neanderthal work on another level entirely, and six albums into the project’s progression, that’s probably how it should be.

Expect noise, slow-churning chaos and an atmosphere strewn with viscera. The opening title-track and “Mammoth March” — side A — are punishing and spacious as Beregovyi‘s higher-register scream cuts through the piled-on distortion and plod rules the day. There are some aspects of death-doom in the riffing, but at a certain point it’s splitting hairs where extreme-sludge ends and the next microgenre starts, so your context for hearing it might be different. In any case, Beregovyi makes the flattening intent plain from the outset and as even-slower finish of “Mammoth March” cuts off its residual noise and the 12-minute “TAWA” (I think named for another fossil; relative to coelophysis, reportedly) takes hold with its own consuming nod, the listener’s fate is sealed. Grueling and intense, it drags further and deeper down as it goes, and by the time it starts to come apart, it’s hard not to feel somewhat numb from the beaten undertaken, but if your attention can hold, “Paleo Dub” makes it well worth sticking around.

Think “dub” via Godflesh. I’m not sure if it’s a drum machine or not, but it could be, and the strident riff and echoing growls that complement build over the first couple minutes until the roll breaks and the next riff is established and fleshed out. Perhaps inevitably, it finishes with noise, sustained at volume at first, then quieter and farther back on a fadeout, like a prehistoric genetic memory obscured over time. The PR wire uses the word ‘primordial’ below, and even in dub, that rings true in the overarching nastiness and harsh reality conjured in the material.

The album is available in two editions between the standard and Robustfellow‘s limited version with the bonus track “Green Hand 420,” should you find yourself wanting a bit of extra blunt force trauma. What premieres below is the regular version, and I hope you enjoy the crawling, 41-minute onslaught.

PR wire info follows in blue. Dig it:

Celophys, Neanderthal album premiere

Operating as a meticulous one-man studio project helmed by Oleksandr Beregovyi, Ukrainian underground sludge architect Celophys returns with its sixth full-length album, Neanderthal. Building upon a legacy of uncompromising, down-tuned audio warfare – from the deep-sea explorations of Ammonite and the raw aggression of Fried Chordata to the hypnotic fuzz of Wulong—this new effort strips heavy music down to its most primordial, caveman-weight elements.

Tracklisting:

I. Neanderthal (9:46)
II. Mammoth March (9:05)
III. TAWA (12:30)
IIII. Paleo Dub (9:51)

Following a fierce trajectory through Ammonite, Fried Chordata, and Wulong, Celophys continues its reign where paleontology meets crushing analog sludge. Their sixth full-length, Neanderthal (Robustfellow Prods.), is a masterclass in raw, caveman-weight audio warfare designed exclusively for underground die-hards.

Recorded at OwlCraft Studio in late 2024 – early 2025
Mixed and mastered by Oleksandr Beregovyi

Music & Lyrics by Oleksandr Beregovyi
Artwork by Petro Krul
Design by Yurii Dubrovskyj
Produced by Filipp Dobrov

Celophys on Bandcamp

Celophys on Instagram

Robustfellow Productions on Bandcamp

Robustfellow Productions on Instagram

Robustfellow Productions on Facebook