Photo (c) 2009 Cosmic Atrophy
This is one of those rare progressive and/or "weird" death metal bands that not only holds together, but generates an atmosphere. Unlike bad prog bands of all varieties, who patch together different artistic impulses in the same key or tempo and call it a song, these riffs are made to work together as if part of a continuing dialogue within each song.
Comparisons to Demilich, Voivod and Gorguts would be appropriate. Cosmic Atrophy do not try for the killer awkward and difficult riff, but fit together a series of smaller, eerie riffs that comprise an overall attitude or spirit to each song. The 2009 teaser track you can hear on their myspace represents not a new direction but a clearer vision of the same direction they showed on 2008's Codex Incubo.
This band started in 2008 with young personnel who nonetheless have their roots in the founding acts of progressive death metal. There's none of the bounce-rock, "modern death metal" tendencies you would find in Behemoth or Necrophagist, because this is from a different genre and proud of it. One can hear the influence of cryptic death metal bands that never made it big like Timeghoul and Oxiplegatz, as well as the bands like Demilich and Gorguts who made it big by being as weird (and as fun to listen to) as they wanted to be.
In 2009, Cosmic Atrophy expect to release a "second album [that] is going to be a narrative concept album based on H.P. Lovecraft's novella At the Mountains of Madness." They describe themselves as "oldschool influenced death metal with a bit of otherworldly touch to it," which is about as good a description as anyone can invent.
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