One of New Jersey's most blistering metal exports, Cognitive, have released their eviscerating second single ‘To Feed The Worms’ ahead of their fourth album Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction, on 16th July via Unique Leader. Premiered via Decibel Magazine, you can now watch 'To Feed The Worms' here: https://youtu.be/Zz_XLSu4vTk
Pre-order Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction here: https://orcd.co/Malevolent
Fusing together the best elements of death metal - groove, speed, brutality, technical prowess with forward thinking songwriting Cognitive have returned firing on all cylinders with their career-defining explosive fourth album Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction.
Formed in New Jersey more than a decade ago in 2011, the technical death metal five-piece have earned a flawless reputation for their obliterating live shows and have toured worldwide with relentless fervour. Supporting the likes of Fit for an Autopsy, Rivers of Nihil, Through the Eyes of the Dead, Waking the Cadaver, Vulvodynia, Kraanium, Abiotic, Lorna Shore, Wormed, Artificial Brain and more. Critically acclaimed appearances at Maryland Deathfest followed by a full European tour including Deathfeast Open Air, trudging across Iceland, meandering through Puerto Rico led the band to truly become a touring juggernaut with one goal in mind, keep moving forward.
It’s this refusal to stand still that led the band to create their new album, the ungodly sounding Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction. Ten tracks of pure visceral energy are exemplified by the monstrous raw emotion and aggression of vocalist Shane Jost, the fret-burning blistering lunacy and soulful solos of Harry Lannon and Rob Wharton, Tyler Capone-Vitale's thick basslines and the thunderous bludgeoning savagery of drum work from AJ Viana. This is the product of true heavyweights intent on emitting a vast wall of sound and determined to climb to the very top of the tech-death metal pile.
Recorded and mixed by Cognitive's drummer AJ Viana and mastered by the Grammy award-winning mastering engineer Alan Douches at West West Side Music (Converge, Dillinger Escape Plan, Chelsea Wolfe, Mastodon) the aim for the album was a clean but organic sound that slammed harder than ever.
The stunning and intricate album artwork was produced by Pedro Sena at Lordigan Art. The band sent Pedro the music and album title and gave him free reign to interpret the music into cover art. The result, a horrifying skull tornado filled with dying souls (zoom in or take a closer look here).
Now with the forthcoming release of their devastating new album Malevolent Thoughts of a Hastened Extinction, the band display more diversity and compelling songwriting mastery in their realm of extreme metal than ever before, proving yet again they are not scared to explore new concepts musically or explore new territory. The results demonstrate a band not f*ck*ng around, with an absorbing display of precision musicianship, outright savagery and cataclysmic ferocity.