Meat

Cortisol's "Meat" was not made for just any casual listener. For those not used to doom metal of any sort, it will be almost painful to listen to. On the other hand, if you can take the slow riffs, the intense backing vocals, and the crushing atmosphere then you will most certainly enjoy this album.


The atmosphere on this album is simply excruciating. But in accordance to this album it's a testament. The relentless, drawn out, sludgy distortion sound from the guitars mixed with the wonderfully fit in vocals, evokes a powerful feeling of hatred for me. Then during every pause of the guitars a snare from the drums is able to fill in the void of noise causing the songs to flow rather than be choppy and full of breaks. And with their being no breaks, it gives the listener a feeling of having no escape, causing even more hatred, and even giving the album a depressive feeling. But that isn't where it ends. The vocals also contribute to the never ending feeling of crushing music. When the guitar is dying down the vocals generally come in with a cymbal from the drums and continue the barrage of noise.


As for the vocals...Whoever thought of putting them in the background of the mix was simply a genius. Because they are in the back it takes nothing away from the drone focus of this music. And the great variety of singing techniques used in this album, be it an almost metalcore yell, a black metal shriek, a blood curdling gurgle, they all add to the music. They make it...almost scary. Heres my picture of the vocals coming in: A giant herd of demons are walking, very slowly almost as if to torture you, towards you, and then as it gets almost too bad to handle a monsterous beast looms on the horizon. This beast is making all sorts of grotesque noises, on top of the drone of demon hooves coming at you. Now that is a terrifying image to conjure in your head but one that connotates the vocals perfectly. The vocals even take away some of the boredom that some can feel listening to this painstakingly slow music. Another thing is how well the vocals work with the music. Any shift in dynamics happening with the instruments is represented by the vocals as well. This lets you focus on both at the same time rather than being distracted by one or the other. Also, as I elaborated on before, the vocals sometimes keep the onslaught going when instruments aren't there to continue it.


So, in conclusion, this is not music for the weak. To listen to this, you must prepare yourself for a 45 minute marathon of absolutely crushing music.

Cortisol is labeled as doom but I'd say they sound borderline drone. Sometimes there isn't even a consistent drum beat and the music just drags on. The music itself is fairly odd and not too interesting, but is worthy of the occasional listen.


The vocals really put me off and this is my biggest complaint. Why I don't like them: because they're abrasive and impossible to comprehend. They sound more hardcore/sludgecore than metal. No lyrics are included so who knows what the hell is going on? When I think of doom metal harsh vocals don't come to mind. If you like the way Mike Williams(Eyehategod) sounds then you might like this recording. At times, the guitar riffs are on par with funeral doom. Feedback-laden guitar riffs(more like chords) will sustain for long periods of time. On top of that, whoever's singing sounds like they're throwing up their soul. This album won't hold your attention and there's no way you can just sit down and listen to it without feeling the impulse to turn it off. The music never comes to a focus, but makes for good background music with a dreary atmosphere. Cortisol could have made these 4 tracks into a one giant song but that wouldn't have changed anything. All 4 tracks are painfully desolate and if Cortisol is out to achieve this then they're doing great.