Blazar - Fatal Cosmic Wound

Blazar is a death/sludge doom band from Spain who formed in 2017. “Fatal Cosmic Wound” is their full-length debut album; they have also released an EP and two splits.

This is certainly one of the bleakest and nastiest albums I've heard so far this year.  The music is darker than black, as if some sort of tear was opened in space but nothing much the unending void of death spilled out into the cosmos.

The music is slow and monolithic, brutal in ways that are hard to explain. The riffs are, of course, crushing–whether it is a low rumble or a sweltering static that hangs in the air, the guitars create quite the sweltering atmosphere.

The bass is like its own separate entity such are its monstrous tones. Music this slow requires drumming that is engaging but also needs to remain a stalwart foundation to hold up all this massive music.  Their drummer, B.C., handles all this with apparent ease.

The clean parts of the music offer no respite as they are a bridge that connects all this darkness together. 

Of the seven tracks, the four longer ones make up the meat of the album. In between these harrowing dirges, interludes of cosmic horror fill up the liking passages.

The first full song is the gigantic title track. Brackish waves of doom reverberate from the guitars as disgustingly effective death growls seep in between the heavy notes. The drums compliment the slow pace by allowing themselves to create rising action that ends in a huge riff, brutal vocal or staggering bass line.

Around the eight minute mark, eerie synths take over the atmosphere, flooding the space with dangerous and alien tones. This part works well, a testament to the band's ability to keep the feel and themes of the song, and the others, on the same level even when they switch up the playing styles.

“Beyond The Event Horizon” is a scary track that unnerved me but I wouldn't have it any other way. The way the band grabs hold of these cosmic horrors and steers them in such disturbing directions is fantastic.

This song is slightly faster, offering a more riff based structure rather than more distorted textures. It's still cavernous, cold, and permeating with unknown dangers. The lead guitar offers what amounts to melody for this band—it is another layer of bleakness. After the four minute mark, clean tones and a rousing drum performance creep the evil along through a stalking maze. 

One of the more adventurous and layered songs is “Crystallized Oblivion.” Its use of synths/keys brings it to another level, a new fear unlocked through the music of quiet desperation. At times the synths are subtle, other times they lead this doomed path. The vocals and drums slither their way through this nightmarish world, giving the guitars and synths plenty of room to work.

After the five minute mark, the music gets pretty out there in terms of psychosis horror. The music is clean at first, the keys being used to subtly drive me mad. The vocals creep back in, the bass begins to smother as the doom and synths become one.

The last full-length song is “Forgotten” but it won’t soon leave you.  This grimy, doomed ode to misery is everything I like about this style.  The bass is so deep, it's almost overpowering.  The riffs are so low they sink down into the muck, touching the edges of hell.  The vocal performance is among the best on the album, just truly hideous in the best way.  

All in all, this is a very surprising debut that seemed to come out of nowhere–but will definitely leave its clawed mark on many ears this year.  Any fan of extreme doom will be missing out if they let “Fatal Cosmic Wound” pass them by.