CULT OF FIRE - मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान (2013)

Genre: Epic Black Metal

Label: Iron Bonehead Productions

Rating: 9/10

Cult of Fire debuted with the album Triumvirát in 2012, to much acclaim, at least within the underground. That was my first introduction to them. With their latest, also known by its English title of Ascetic Meditations of Death, they take their ability to craft memorable, touching, and meaningful music to a whole other level. Their new logo, the title of the album, and the song titles are all in Sanskrit. That I can't read Sanskrit or the Dravidian alphabet hurts my soul, because my passion is language, and I've dreamt for years of reading the Bhagavad-Gita in Sanskrit. At any rate, to delve into this wonderful album. I have it on black vinyl. I recommend picking it up in a vinyl format, for the art is amazing and it deserves to be seen as large as it is. It is sold out by now, but you can obtain it fairly easily on Discogs if you add it to your wantlist and simply wait for it to appear. I know for a fact there were recently a few copies for sale; if you go now, you may catch one. Perhaps even a blue or red vinyl edition.

"संहार रक्त काली" opens the album, with some low-pitched, meditation-chant backed by sitar droning on, until distorted electric guitar kicks in. It melds with the sitar in a captivating way. Eventually it opens up to a blastbeat with single-string tremolo picking. A simple arpeggio follows that, also tremolo picked but not at lightning speed. Towards the end of the song, the sitar comes back in as an incantation in Sanskrit is read off in a chant sort of way. The second track, "अस्तित्व की चिता पर," opens up with a chromatic run up the organ keys. It is a fairly standard but well-executed Black Metal song. It should be noted that the vocals on this album are on their A-game. There's a break around the halfway mark of the second song where is heard a fire burning, with light guitar over it; this ends with a crash of electric guitar and repeated hits on the tom. I think it is also noteworthy that on this album, the snare seems to be tuned quite low/deeply. At any rate, the ending to this song is breathtakingly beautiful. This album is not like your typical Epic Black Metal that might be a snooze-fest or, in rare shining cases like Summoning, not slow-to-mid-tempo.

"शव साधना" is the third track, and sounds like a call to prayer at first. There is, around the 3:30 mark, a pitch-shifted (downward) voice reading something off; I cannot quite tell if it is reversed speech, if it is Czech, or Sanskrit. Next up is my favourite song, and what I regard as the most memorable on the album, track four, or "काली मां," which I also know that in English it is Kali Ma. This song is instrumental, except for  some chanting, mostly of the word "aum," with sitar in the background. It switches soon enough to tremolo picked guitar. It is a very melodic set of riffs. Very soothing. Nostalgic, almost. Again, I think this song has the most notable riffs, and the band lets the guitars do all the talking. There is a piano part which is quite beautiful and fitting, a solo actually. This song is totally transcendent, and when I listen to it I am calmed.

"मृत्यु ही सत्य है," track five, is a much different affair, a very fast and fiery song. I wouldn't describe it so much as a kick in the face, more like a sudden hit of G-forces on a jet. The riff at 1:07 is awesome, as is the riff that follows it. The song eventually flowers into something more beautiful. Track six, "मृत्यु का वीभत्स नृत्य," has a weird sort of chord progression, and the lead is rather frantic, as if searching for something. Then it settles down and reaches its destination. There's a weird, contemplative section mid-way through the song, but it leads to a most endearing riff. "खण्ड मण्ड योग" is another contemplative track; that seems to be a theme here. Other than "Kali Ma," I would say that this is the most striking song on the album. It hits you in the heart. Finally we have track eight, "दिव्य प्रेम की ज्वाला से दग्ध," which starts off with rather exalting sounding sitar, and decidedly major sounding clean guitar with some chorus on it, and major bass parts as well. It persists like this for the duration of the song (it's almost an instrumental; there is a clip of an Indian man reading Sanskrit).

The bottom line is the following: if you don't buy this record in some format, whether tape (which is still available), vinyl, the availability about which I was apparently mistaken, or digitally, you're an idiot, flat-out. It is magical, a spiritual journey, and an absolute pleasure to listen to.