CULT OF LILITH

Mara

METAL BLADE

Icelandic debutants rip up the tech death rulebook

ICELAND’S MAGNIFICENT VISTAS and bleak isolation lend its musical artists an identifiable common individuality, which makes madcap newcomers Cult Of Lilith an even more appealing oddity, with debut Mara another unexpected treat from a country used to throwing up the unexpected. Having largely gone it alone on 2016’s Arkanum EP, guitarist Daniel pÞr Hannesson has assembled a crew of likeminded visionaries to combine cutting-edge technical death metal’s fretboard acrobatics and chunky bite with all manner of progressive, classical and technicolour influences and surprises that dart in from the leftfield.

Opening its account with a harpsichord, lives up to its billing with a flurry of notes, shattering drums, multiple rhythmic and tempo changes and an uncanny underbelly that’s as. Mario Infantes Avalos’s multi-faceted vocals come into their own on the profoundly odd blitzkrieg of that throws in a jazzy lead and Hammond before descending into -esque electronica, while the atmospheric, jittery has the audacity to end with stunning flamenco playing.